


On Alien Shores

by Unda



Category: One Piece
Genre: Existential doubt, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-30
Updated: 2011-11-27
Packaged: 2017-10-20 21:07:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 80,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/217108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unda/pseuds/Unda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How can you be careful what you wish for if you don't know what it is you really want? ZoSan. Swearing. poem isn't mine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Sanji had thought that Thriller Bark was bad, that the Florian Triangle was horrible, and he had thought that he had seen the extent of the Grand Line’s insane weather. But barely any time after the crew had left Thriller Bark battered and broken, they had run into a storm.

‘A storm’ didn’t really seem like a strong enough description, it was as if the very ocean was trying to kill them. Against all measure of sanity the storm had been battering them for nine days straight, either it was massive or it was somehow chasing them. Nami was desperately trying to steer them through it, Sanji was sure they’d be dead by now if not for her, but even she was outmatched by a storm of this calibre, all she could do was make sure they survived.

The whole crew was exhausted, the sails were furled and everything on deck was either strapped down tight or already bolted to the floor. Franky and Usopp had been making on the hop repairs to the ship as they were battered by the storm. Nami was getting only a few hours sleep a night before returning on deck to keep them safe, with Robin covering when Nami was asleep and helping out as much as she could elsewhere, it was invaluable to have a pair of hands literally wherever you needed them. Zoro was still weakened considerably from Thriller Bark and though other men would be dead long ago Zoro was still trying to help.

Above all else Sanji was tired. He was tired from the lack of sleep, from the constant threat of death, from crazed warlords trying to kill them, from zombies and other horrors that shouldn’t exist. He was just tired and had no moment to rest, even in the little sleep he managed to get it was restless through worry of his nakama on deck fighting through the storm.

But on the morning of the tenth day Sanji wakes up and grudgingly goes above deck expecting to still see the storm battering at them. But instead he comes up to see no rain or wind, just brilliant sunshine. Nami stands weakly on deck behind the wheel, her raincoat still slicked to her from the pounding rain of earlier. In the sky behind her lays an ominous ugly looking streak of cloud, but the sails are open and the cloud is disappearing to their rear. They were finally out of the storm.

“We’re about… two hours off of land. Just there.” Nami says weakly, her finger shakily pointing at the horizon before the ship. Sanji squints, he can’t see anything but he trusts Nami’s navigational instincts implicitly.

“I’ll take the wheel and get us there, you go to bed.” He orders gently, his hand pressed against the small of her back, steering her away from the wheel. At any other time she might have protested but now she just nods mutely, unclips the log pose from her wrist, gives it to him and walks down below deck to her room in the stupor of sleep. He dutifully follows the log pose for an hour until Robin relieves him so he can make the crew breakfast.

He feels the weight on his shoulders lift slightly, his nakama aren’t in danger for the moment, they can rest, relax and heal up. He and Chopper can force Zoro to stay in bed and rest for a while, Franky and Usopp can repair the ship properly without worrying about being dragged out to sea by a massive wave from the storm. With a smile on his face he cooks breakfast, they don’t have many supplies left but oatmeal but he manages to add enough extra ingredients to make each bowl as mouth-watering as possible for its intended recipient. Sweet berries in Chopper’s, a subtle hint of nutmeg in Robin’s, honey and mikan slices in Nami’s and so on. After breakfast Nami orders Usopp and Franky to fetch fresh water whilst she takes a nap and declares that they will explore the island after lunch together.

A short lunch later, much hurried by their captain’s impatience, Sanji finds himself standing on a new shore waiting for a new and potentially lethal adventure to start all over again. He lights up a cigarette as the more enthusiastic of his nakama rush forward into the jungle.

“You’re looking a little green around the gills, cook. Everything okay?” Zoro grunts next to him. Sanji looks sidelong at him through his curtain of hair. He doesn’t even think that Zoro should be out here, not after what happened to him on Thriller Bark, but Zoro doesn’t broker any argument on his health from anyone but Chopper and even then that’s a struggle.

“You’re one to talk about being green. Just try not to get yourself killed or sacrifice yourself to anything for once okay?” he snorts and stomps off into the woods after Luffy and the others, leaving Zoro to follow his trail of smoke.

The forest is undeniably beautiful, the plants are lush and green with thick vegetation growing at every level. They see no animals other than birds as they walk through the forest, but Zoro spots tracks that suggest that there are animals here. Sanji is already trying to work out what they can kill to take aboard the ship with them, who knows how long they’ll be at sea next or how harsh the ocean will be on them this time?

They spot a rustle in the trees ahead of them and catch a fleeting glimpse of a human face but a rush of leaves tells them before they get there that whoever they saw has escaped away from them. As they make their way further through the forest this happens more and more, glimpses of people in the shadows, footsteps in the canopy above them. It makes the crew jumpy but as Robin rightly points out, these people seem to be scared of them and apparently mean them no harm as if they wanted to harm them they would have done so by now. Sanji is not relaxed though, the Grand Line is not a place one can afford to relax in without the ever present risk of death rearing its head.

Before long though the tree line thins and they emerge from the forest they come into rows and rows of wet fields almost like rice paddies, however these large pools are not growing rice, they’re growing flowers. In amongst the pools are people wading in the almost waist deep water with baskets on their backs, clearly in the business of harvesting the flowers. The people are watching them cautiously, none moving closer but none running away either.

“Hello! You don’t need to be scared of us!” Luffy bellows at a volume that Sanji thinks is more likely to frighten than reassure the villagers.

They make their way closer to a pool with more of the floating flowers in; the person in this pool is a little closer to the shore, staring at them with wide and slightly fearful eyes. In the man’s hand is a beautiful light pink flower, it has a long delicate stem and a row of flat petals at the base of the flower itself with more curving upwards in a delicate arc. It is, Sanji realises, a lotus.

“Hello, we just landed on your shores. We mean you no harm and would very much love to see your island.” Robin says soothingly, crouching down so she’s closer to eye level with the man. The man gulps and trembles a little but does not answer.

“Do you not speak my language? I know others if that would help. What is the name of this island?” She continues with a reassuring smile.

“D-Djerba. This island is called Djerba.” The man replies shakily.

“Wonderful. May I ask where the main town is?” Robin asks curiously.

“I- are you pirates?” the man asks nervously fiddling with the lotus stem in his fingers.

“Yes, but we don’t mean you any harm, honest.” Nami responds reassuringly. The crew nods and murmurs their agreement, well aware that they look like a scary bunch of folks. It doesn’t help that they’ve got a massive cyborg, a talking reindeer and a living skeleton on their crew.

“You’ll be wanting to talk to the Oracle then. She’s in the town just over that hill, in the temple.” The man states, pointing down the dirt road that indeed leads to a small hill. The man quickly wades away through the water and the crew as a whole continue down the path. Sanji thinks that the man was quite jumpy, but some towns have learnt the hard way to avoid pirates as a rule. He glances over his shoulder to see the man looking an awful lot more relaxed and chewing on something with a slightly blissed out look on his face as he goes back to picking the lotus flowers from the water.

When they arrive they discover that the town is of modest size, the buildings are all painted white which gives the warm island a pleasant summery feel. More varieties of lotus are growing throughout the town, in people’s gardens and ponds and in fountains on the street. In the centre of the town is a large and beautiful building with a gold domed roof, the architecture of the building is open and ornate with wooden doors with intricate lotus designs carved into them. The building certainly looks like a temple to Sanji, decorated as it is in the way people do when revering the divine. With little debate amongst them the crew walk towards the temple.

At the entrance to the temple courtyard is an archway lined with long stemmed lotus plants, the buds are folded in on themselves, their yellow petals intertwined. As the crew walks through the archway in single file the lotus blossoms bloom and unfurl majestically. Sanji stares in wonder as he walks through the archway, he can smell the heavenly floral smell of their blossoms as the buds open gently. The smell washes over him sweetly, bathing him in a haze of pleasant feelings, he’s never smelt perfume so divine. He wonders if this town makes perfume from these flowers and if the lovely ladies would like some.

On the steps of the temple are several women, all but one are looking at them with shock clearly written on their beautiful faces. They’re all clothed in simple thin white cloth that hangs from their necks from a golden collar. The woman in the centre, the only who doesn’t look shocked, walks forward. She’s young, perhaps about seventeen, she has an expression of self-assurance that reminds Sanji a little of Robin. Her dress has a slightly iridescent look to it, and Sanji thinks that if it weren’t for the brilliant sunlight shining off of the fabric it would be a little bit see through too. Her hair is a deep chestnut colour and in her hair, tucked behind her ear, is a golden lotus. She descends the steps gracefully and smiles at them slowly.

“Pirates haven’t made the lotus flowers bloom in my lifetime, you are exceedingly unusual. I did not think that my dream would come true, it seemed so improbable.” She says in a light and slightly distant voice. Her eyes are a hazy blue, she looks as if she’s half awake and half asleep.

“But, Oracle, surely they cannot both be people to make the lotuses bloom and be pirates!” One of the other women exclaims, looking frightened at Brook who wisely keeps his mouth shut for once.

“Are you questioning me?” the chestnut-haired woman with the lotus at her ear asks in a voice that suggests that a wise answer to her statement is ‘no’. The other woman shakes her head, bows and steps back respectfully. With a broad grin Luffy steps forward, his hand held out in greeting.

“Hi! I’m-” Luffy starts enthusiastically.

“Luffy. The man who dreams of becoming the pirate king, I know.” She smiles wanly at him. Luffy looks a little startled by this but recovers quickly, it isn’t the first time that someone has recognised him, even if this island doesn’t seem the type to be up on pirate news.

“I am the Oracle. Before you ask me questions I shall ask you one. I know that you are aware of devil’s fruits, several of you have consumed them yourselves. And I am sure that you are aware by now that inanimate objects can ‘eat’ the fruits and gain their powers too. However, do you know what happens when one buries a devil’s fruit on an island?” She asks, looking dreamily around the group.

Sanji thinks about this for a moment. He’d not considered what might happen if a devil’s fruit was buried again. He might guess that it grows a new tree and then grows another of the same fruit. He suspects though from the woman’s smile that this is not the case.

“The island eats the fruit?” Luffy guesses, scratching his head thoughtfully.

“Don’t be stupid, an island can’t eat something!” Nami snaps, clearly still grumpy from a lack of sleep.

“On the contrary Nami, that is precisely what happens. And it is what happened to this island. The lotuses that grow on this island are an expression of that fruit’s powers, as am I and other seers before me as those after me shall be. The flowers on this island, in this temple specifically, are flowers of wishes. They make that which is not so but is desired real.” She says cryptically.

Sanji turns that odd sentence around in his head a few times before venturing an answer.

“You have magic wish-granting flowers?” He asks disbelievingly. Surely that can’t be, the flowers seem pretty but Sanji isn’t a big believer in magic, even the powers of devil’s fruit powers are limited and he doubts that any fruit could do such a thing, let alone something that is grown on an island that consumed a devil’s fruit, something which would surely weaken the effect of the fruit.

“Precisely. They should be used with caution though, that which we wish for is often not that which is best for us. Usually we let pirates wish on the flowers un-aided and un-guided, more often than not it kills them and the world is better for their loss. However, you are good people and I shan’t let that happen to you.” She nods and turns to walk further into the temple, she gestures over her shoulder for them to follow her. At a loss for anything else to do they do follow her.

“Do you think that she’s telling the truth?” Usopp whispers quietly as they follow the woman in the shimmering dress.

“I would very much like to find out, such a thing would be very remarkable.” Robin murmurs excitedly.

“Sounds suspicious to me.” Zoro chips in gruffly.

“How can a wish kill you if I may ask?” Robin asks the oracle as they follow her around the courtyard towards a large ornate fountain.

“Any pleasure taken to extremes is unpleasant. An endless party becomes tiring and torturous, unlimited money becomes worthless, even limitless happiness becomes numbing after time. The things we wish for consciously are often not what we want. The same applies to all of you but one, if I gave most of you your wishes you would not thank me for it.” She answers as she sits down at the edge of the fountain. This thought rolls slowly through Sanji’s brain. He supposes that he can see that, moderation is often a key virtue. It’s part of the problem with the Grand Line that it’s danger and weirdness, whilst making for an incredible adventure, is almost relentless and without any form of moderation.

“I wouldn’t want you to give me my dream.” Luffy states definitively and folds his arms over his chest. The girl smiles broadly at that and for a moment Sanji can see just how young she looks, despite her distant adult tone she still is a young lady.

“No, you wouldn’t. I have to say that your dream is rather unusual. Most who come here who claim that they want to be the pirate king don’t actually want it, what they truly desire is power or wealth or the fame and acclaim that comes with such a title. You are the first that I’ve seen to want it simply for what it is. Your goal would be worthless if I were to just hand it to you, the same applies to you.” She adds looking up at Zoro who nods in agreement.

“I want to earn it, not have it given to me.” The swordsman confirms.

“And some of you wish things that rarely turn out well, that the dead should be alive again. People are who they are, in a large part because of what has happened to them, if I were to put you in a world where someone you wish to be alive still was they would fit in that world but you would not. It ends… badly.” She comments sadly, her fingers picking at the hem of her dress.

Sanji feels a well of sadness in his heart at her words, he knows how dearly Robin and Nami wish that their mothers weren’t taken from them, and poor Usopp was left all alone in the world after his mother died. The others weren’t immune either, little Chopper lost his adoptive doctor father, Franky too had Tom taken from him and Brook had to watch his entire crew die before him. Zoro was perhaps the worst affected, his entire life’s goal revolves around a traumatic death. He feels lucky in being one of the few to not suffer from that kind of loss, he left home as a child to work aboard a ship and never looked back.

“Mr. Sanji here is however the only person who’s wish should be granted.” She smiles up at him.

“What? I don’t want All Blue just handed to me either. I thought you were supposed to be a seer, shouldn’t you know that?” He says startled. The woman has been so on base with reading them, inexplicably knowing their names and knowing what they’re all about that her sudden miss shocks him.

“Ah, I see what is inside you. I see what your heart wants. And it’s not your dream of finding All Blue that I speak of, that is your dream not your wish. In many they are the same thing, but in you they are not. You have a good heart Sanji, and a noble wish, I’d like to grant it.” She says standing up and tapping a finger thoughtfully over his heart. He feels the eyes of his crew on him, silently questioning him.

“Well, tell me what my wish is then.” He says slowly, because for the life of him he can’t think what she means if not All-Blue. He can’t think of anything else that drives him so much as All-Blue. And he certainly doesn’t want her granting anything that he doesn’t know what it is.

“You don’t know?” Zoro asks in a tone that suggests he must be some kind of moron to not know what it is that he really wishes for.

“Many are unaware of what their heart wishes for, I cannot tell you. You must learn it for yourself. Here, I shall set the wish and you may do with it as you choose.” She states confidently.

With a smooth movement she turns back to the fountain. Inside its clear waters lotuses are growing as they seem to all over this island. The blossoms on these ones are closed but as she bends to pluck one from the water the petals open. They’re brilliantly gold as if gilded by some fine artist in gold leaf and glisten and shine gloriously in the sunlight. She snaps the stem leaving just the flower and a few inches of stem in her hand. With a soft smile and closes her eyes and opens her palms, the flower shining in her opened palms. In a voice that seems more sombre and reverent than her own she begins to speak.

“Branches they bore of that enchanted stem,  
Laden with flower and fruit, whereof they gave  
To each, but whoso did receive of them  
And taste, to him the gushing of the wave”

In her palms the flower glows brilliantly and begins to rise by itself off of her hands and spin suspended in the air by nothing.

“Why are we weigh’d upon with heaviness,  
And utterly consumed with sharp distress,  
While all things else have rest from weariness?  
All things have rest: why should we toil alone,  
We only toil, who are the first of things,  
And make perpetual moan,  
Still from one sorrow to another thrown;  
Nor ever fold our wings,  
And cease from wanderings,  
Nor steep our brows in slumber’s holy balm;  
Nor harken what the inner spirit sings,  
There is no joy but calm!"

The flower, which had picked up speed in its impossible levitating rotations, slowly drifts back into her palms as she ceases her poem-like prayer and the petals of the lotus return to their golden state of before. She blinks a few times and seems to come back to herself from whatever altered state that she was in before.

“Your wish. If you want to accept it then eat the lotus. I hope it brings you what you seek along with the clarity to realise what you wish for.” She says quietly as she plucks the flower from her palm and desposits it stem first in Sanji’s breast pocket.

“The rest of the town should be happy to help you now that you’ve seen me. We are a peaceful people and you’ll find no danger here. If you’ll excuse me.” She bows before walking away from them calmly back into the temple.

 

The oracle woman was correct in her statement, the crew found the people of the island no longer wary of them now that Sanji was walking around with a golden lotus sticking out of his breast pocket. In fact the townsfolk were more than helpful, they didn’t have much in the way of supplies as their only vegetable foodstuffs seemed to be the lotuses that were growing in the fields or fruits from the forest that they had walked through to get to the town. Either way Sanji took back some samples with him to the ship to test as ingredients before buying any.

Dinner itself had been an excited affair, Sanji had tentatively made a side dish with the lotuses that the crew had been given to sample in town. Obviously he’d not used the golden lotus that the oracle had given him, that was still poking out of his breast pocket.

As Brook and Franky clear the table he curiously twirls the lotus stem between his fingers and watches the pretty patterns that the gilded shine on the petals makes. He can’t think of what wish the Oracle had been speaking of. She had outright said that it wasn’t All-Blue and she seemed to be implying that it was the sort of wish that she’d like to grant, so not one that would turn out badly for him like wishing for endless pleasures. He supposes that even wishing for an unlimited number of women who found him gorgeous would be unsatisfying eventually, although he struggles to imagine how that might be. So what could his wish be? It was his wish, shouldn’t he know what it was if he thought about it hard enough?

“Are you going to use your wish Sanji? Do you have any idea what it is yet?” Nami asks, her beautiful eyes wide with curiosity.

“I’m not sure I should use it if I don’t know what it’ll do.” He says uncertainly and fiddles with the stem of the lotus again.

“Well, she seemed genuine enough and quite forthright in saying that you were the only one who had a wish that would turn out well for you if granted.” Nami muses thoughtfully.

“I think you should do it.” Luffy declares with a goofy grin on his face as he rests his chin on his hand. Sanji feels rather surprised by this, surely Luffy can’t be reccomending that he just eat some strange magic flower when he has no idea what it’s going to do to him. But then again this is Luffy after all so perhaps it’s not that unepexted.

“Yeah, you deserve to have your wishes come true.” Franky calls from over by the sink, Sanji turns to look at him over his shoulder and sees Franky giving him a thumbs up and a supportive smile.

He turns back to the golden flower in his hand, should he really risk it?

“Go for it!” Usopp adds with an excited expression on his face.

“She said to eat it, do you think you have to eat the whole thing or just a little bit for it to work?” He wonders aloud as he runs a finger over a lush golden petal.

“I suggest that if you wish to go for it then eat a little first and if it does not work, eat more of it.” Robin suggests sagely. He nods and steels his nerves. He should go for it, he should get something that he wants for once. Forcing bravery he plucks several of the petals off of the lotus together and with a hint of determination puts them quickly in his mouth and swallows them.

For a moment he feels nothing and looks around at his expectant nakama uncertainly, and then the feeling starts. It begins deep in his gut, it feels as if his stomach is falling away in that odd sensation one gets when falling from a great height or swinging on a rope at a steep angle. After that the world around him suddenly distorts and becomes blurred before dissapearing into blackness. His limbs feel numb and he falls backwards bonelessly into nothingness.

 

Sanji comes awake slowly with limbs that feel sluggish and a brain that feels like it’s filled with treacle. He groans and manages to open his eyes, they feel sticky with sleep. Slowly the world comes into focus. The ceiling above him is white, flat and unremarkable. The only way in which the ceiling is at all remarkable is by not looking anything like the ceilings on the Thousand Sunny.

He frowns and rolls over slowly. In front of him is a small bedside table with two drawers in it and a lamp on top, in the semi darkness of the room he can see a large chest of drawers with some kind of picture hanging above it, the darkness makes it impossible to see the details. There’s an orangey yellow light filtering through a crack in the curtains, it doesn’t look like sunlight though, more artificial than that. The room is… unfamiliar. How did… how did he get here? And where is this place anyway? He struggles to remember and finds that he can’t recall how he came to be wherever he is now. He remembers something… a woman and… a flower. The lotus! His wish!

The panic sets in suddenly, cutting through the calm haze of sleep, humming through his veins and making his skin tingle. The wish from the lotus has put him somewhere strange and he doesn’t know where he is or if he’s safe here. He jolts upright in the bed that he’s in and looks around the room in a panic. The place looks more like a typical bedroom than it does a prison cell, which admittedly is a good sign. He turns quickly to check out the other side of the room, it pleasantly proves equally unthreatening with no jail bars or people lurking in the darkness to kill him. It actually takes him a few seconds to notice the person in bed with him. Snuggled under the thick fluffy duvet is a figure, he can hear deep and even breathing, whoever this person is they’re asleep. Cautious of waking someone potentially dangerous he leans over them slowly to get a better look.

In his defence the dark makes it difficult to pick out colour, but as he leans in he recognises that oh so familiar marimo green hair. He leans a little further and can confirm that Zoro is indeed next to him and effectively dead to the world. A rush of relief washes through him, though he wouldn’t admit it to anyone he feels a little better that Zoro is here with him, fighting of hordes of magical kidnappers with Zoro is infinitely preferable to fighting them alone. Mostly anyway.

He decides to slide out of the bed, if Zoro is here then perhaps that stupid wish took the rest of the crew to… wherever this is and they’ve been waiting for him to wake up again. He pads barefoot out of the bedroom that he’s in and into the next room. He comes into a very large room that has the feel of several rooms inside it. Across from him is a plush sofa with a few deep comfy looking armchairs near it, all gathered around a small coffee table and facing a black shiny monitor embedded in the wall. He takes the opportunity to look around the room quickly. To the side of the room that he just entered from is a kitchen, the units are free standing which gives the space a nice open feel. Nearer to the door is a large dining table with eight chairs tucked neatly against it. On the wall near the sofas is a mantelpiece and on it resting on a stand is Zoro’s precious white sword displayed proudly.

He walks cautiously over to it, it looks a little too clean and a little to presented to seem quite right. And since when does Zoro sleep without his swords right next to him? What is this one doing all the way out here? Something about this whole place is off and it bothers him that he’s seen no one else besides Zoro and no evidence that the others are here at all.

A photo above Zoro’s sword catches his eye, it’s a picture of him and Zoro. He’s dressed in what looks like some kind of martial arts wear, a white robe of some kind, and holding a golden trophy aloft in one hand. He has his arm around Zoro who is also wearing a different kind of martial arts wear and hanging from his waist is his ever present white sword, although its partners are suspiciously missing. In Zoro’s hand is another golden trophy clinking against Sanji’s. The pair of them have massive goofy grins on their faces. He frowns, this never happened, he’s never competed in any competitions and certainly not with Zoro. How can this picture exist?

“Sanji?” Zoro’s voice calls sleepily from behind him. Sanji turns quickly, his system still thrumming with adrenaline from earlier. Zoro is standing in the door frame, his hair mussed from sleep and rubbing one eye with the heel of his palm dopily.

“What’re you doing up? Come back to bed.” He murmurs sleepily and yawns so hard that Sanji can hear his jaw click and his earrings chime.

“Zoro, where are we? What is this place?” Sanji asks feeling nervous. What’s making him nervous is not so much that he’s woken up in a strange place with Zoro of all people, but that Zoro isn’t looking at all surprised or nervous at this.

“Huh?” Zoro grunts, the very picture of verbal eloquence.

“This place, where is it? Where is everyone?” He repeats for the stupid sleepy swordsman. Zoro blinks in confusion for a few moments before worry creases his brow.

“Sanji, this is home.” He responds.


	2. Chapter 2

Home.

The word meant many things to Sanji. The Baratie sprang to mind, with its late nights, early mornings and warm kitchens, with the smell of the sea and the sunshine on the ocean. The Sunny came to mind as well, with rowdy nakama and quiet sunrises cooking before the crew woke.

This strange place however was not home. He steps back to put a little more space between himself and Zoro, his bare feet catch on the edge of a rug causing him to stumble backwards and knock his elbow painfully on the edge of the mantelpiece. Wado rattles in her stand at his clumsiness and he spots Zoro’s eyes flick to her with a sharp edge of worry, but his eyes quickly turn back to Sanji.

“Sanji? Are you feeling okay?” Zoro asks quietly, approaching him slowly with his hands splayed out peacefully as one might approach a small frightened animal. Sanji would be angrier at Zoro treating him like that if he weren’t so spooked about waking up somewhere strange in bed with Zoro.

“No I’m not! This isn’t home, this isn’t the Thousand Sunny! So what is this place?” He yells, backing up against the mantelpiece fully as Zoro’s slow steps towards him are starting to put him ill at ease.

“This is home, our home. Don’t you recognise it?” Zoro says slowly and leans to flick a lamp on, throwing the room into light. The place isn’t big but nor is it small. In the light the furnishings appear warm and welcoming and the kitchen that Sanji can spy across the room gleams invitingly in the light. The place is nice enough but undeniably alien to him.

“No I don’t.” He answers firmly. The marimo’s eyes narrow at that but he nods slowly as he accepts that fact, clearly Sanji’s confusion is written plainly across his face.

“Well, tell me what you do remember. Do you remember who you are? What’s the last thing that you remember?” Zoro prompts him.

“I know who I am. The last thing I remember was… we’d just finished dinner-” he starts but Zoro interrupts him, a habit of Zoro’s that’s always endlessly irked Sanji. It’s as if nothing that he’s saying could possibly be as important as what Zoro has to say in his lazy, dumb drawl. He suspects that half the time Zoro only interrupts him just to piss him off.

“Who’s ‘we’? You and I?” Zoro questions him and doesn’t flinch when Sanji glowers at him.

“No, everyone.” He answers impatiently, but Zoro’s unsatisfied expression suggests that Zoro wants him to be more specific. He rolls his eyes and continues.

“Luffy, Nami, Robin, Franky, Usopp, Brook, Chopper and the two of us. Happy? We’d just finished dinner after visiting the town on that island… oh hell, what was its name? D-something… Djerba, that was it. I’d been given a golden lotus from that oracle-woman and told that if I ate it the thing would grant my wish. I took a bite and I guess I passed out. That’s the last I remember before waking up here.” He explains quickly. He frowns and frantically searches his memory but he can’t remember any thing else and his body clock doesn’t feel off in the way that it does when he’s been unconscious for days.

“Sanji I- nothing like that happened. I’ve never heard of that place, that sounds more like a dream to me. You… tell me who you think you are.” Zoro insists with a deep frown.

“I already told you, I know who I am!” He snaps feeling irritated that he’s told Zoro all that he can remember from before waking up in this strange place but Zoro still won’t explain what the hell is going on here.

“Oh, I’ll just take your word for it shall I then? No, tell me what you know about yourself. Just like, the first ten facts about you that spring to mind or something.” Zoro says slowly. Sanji wants to scream and tell Zoro to just be helpful already but he suspects that it may just be faster to humour Zoro and do what he says rather than arguing so he obliges.

“Ugh, fine. My name is Sanji, I’m a chef, I was raised by Zeff, I’m a smoker, I was born in North Blue, I’m a pirate, I’m nineteen years old-” He rattles off facts almost unthinkingly. He notices Zoro’s face change from slightly relieved to extremely tense all of a sudden.

“Wait, what? Nineteen? You’re not nineteen, and not a pirate either!” Zoro corrects him with a deepening frown.

“Yes I am, and so are you!” Sanji snaps irritably, whatever game Zoro is playing here it’s not funny and it’s wasting valuable time.

“No, no you’re not. You and I are both twenty five. And what the hell is ‘North Blue’?” Zoro retorts, his face looking a little more worried than it does angry.

“What’s North Blue? Are you simple or something?! Stop asking me dumbass questions and give me a real explanation of what’s going on here and where the Thousand Sunny is!” Sanji yells, stepping forward and grabbing a handful of Zoro’s shirt threateningly, he’s had enough of this insanity and the way that Zoro’s looking at him like he’s lost his mind.

“I don’t know what this ‘thousand sunny’ is.” Zoro says with a frown directed down at the hand fisted in his shirt.

Sanji feels himself snap. There’s only so much a sane man can take, he’s woken up in a strange place in bed with Zoro of all people with no idea how he got there and Zoro acting like someone’s removed his brain. And now the moron says that he doesn’t know what the Thousand Sunny is? There’s just so much one person can stand.

“It’s our ship! It’s the pirate ship that we’ve lived on for months! You can’t miss it, it’s massive with a lion’s head on the front and a goddamn lawn and trees in the middle! We’re pirates and it’s our pirate ship, is that clear enough for you, you idiot?! NOW WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?!” He yells, shaking Zoro forcefully with his shirt.

Zoro knocks Sanji’s hand off of him and instead tangles his hands suddenly in Sanji’s hair, shoving him back against the mantelpiece with the motion.

“What the hell are you doing?! Get off of me!” Sanji yelps trying to escape the insane marimo’s hands.

“Checking to see if you hit your head, you’ve clearly got a concussion or something.” Zoro answers shortly and continues exploring Sanji’s skull with his fingers. Sanji squirms but Zoro holds him firm with his hands in his hair and cleverly presses himself close enough to Sanji that he can’t raise his knee to kick the insane swordsman away. After a few moments of this unwarranted molestation of his skull Zoro brushes Sanji’s hair away from his eye.

“Hey! Get off!” he squawks batting at Zoro’s big hands, no one messes with his hair.

“Shut up, I just need to see both of them. Look at the lamp.” Zoro orders and stares intently into his eyes. The thought washes over Sanji that Zoro is still trying to check him for a concussion. He looks over to the lamp behind Zoro and feels his eyes sting a little at the brightness, he looks back at Zoro and tries to blink the glowing dots out of his eyes.

Zoro frowns a little more and lets Sanji’s fringe drop. He steps backwards swiftly and turns to walk off into the bedroom that he’d come from.

Despite his argument with Zoro and the marimo’s irritating behaviour Sanji feels so lost in this strange room that he has no choice but to follow Zoro, who is the only familiar thing nearby. Zoro snags a pair of trousers off of the floor and grabs something from the pocket of it Sanji can’t tell what it is from the distance that he’s at. Zoro presses it a few times with his thumb before holding the thing to his ear, it’s small and white, and a little bigger than his own palm, he sees a flash of a little silver symbol on the back before Zoro curses under his breath and jabs at the thing again.

“I’m taking you to see Chopper, he’s not answering his phone so he’s probably at the hospital.” Zoro says distractedly. For a moment Sanji wants to ask if Chopper’s okay, until it occurs to him that wherever they are Chopper probably would be helping out at the local hospital given a chance and thus far more likely to be acting as a doctor there than a patient.

Zoro swears a little more to himself under his breath and again picks pair of black jeans off of the floor and quickly shimmies into them, he then plucks a watch from the bedside table nearest him and snaps the catch on it shut efficiently. Zoro gives him a strange look for a moment before turning to leave the room again.

“Why’re you just standing there? Get dressed.” Zoro says jerking his thumb at the cupboard that takes up the whole wall floor to ceiling at the far wall by the foot of the bed. In a couple of quick strides Zoro disappears into the other room leaving Sanji alone and feeling adrift.

After a moment or two of standing there like an idiot a shudder of nicotine withdrawal hits him and he glances around the strange room for a smoke. A few seconds of searching later he finds a packet of cigarettes and a sliver lighter on the bedside table on the side of the bed that he woke up on, with familiar ease he lights the cigarette and inhales deeply. He turns the lighter over carefully in his hands and examines the pattern on it. It’s not one of his own lighters but it’s a nice one, there’s a shark delicately engraved into the side and the mechanism is smooth, it was probably expensive.

Slowly he walks over to the wardrobe that Zoro pointed at earlier and opens it, his cigarette leaving a trail of smoke behind him. To the left in the wardrobe are pristine suits hanging up all together, looking smart. In the middle is a narrow row of shelves, only wide enough to hold a pair of shoes and on each shelf is a pair of shoes neatly together with the laces tucked inside. Near the top are smarter shoes, glistening with polish, further down there are more casual shoes and even a few pairs of trainers near the bottom. To the right of the wardrobe, which is by far the larger section is a rail of t-shirts, casual shirts, sweaters and jackets. He flicks through them warily and is pleasantly surprised to find that he likes everything that he sees. In the drawers below the shirts are underwear and socks all neatly tucked up together, he recognises a few pairs as being the same as ones that he owns. Desperate for a sense of familiarity he plucks a pair out to wear, whoever these belong to will surely forgive him for wearing them.

The thought slowly steals over him that these are his clothes. Zoro’s words from earlier come back to him, home. He lives here? But it can’t be. He doesn’t know what the wish that the lotus gave him was but he sincerely doubts that it was this. He doesn’t even know what this is. Feeling anxious he pulls off his pyjama top and shrugs on an orange t-shirt with white edging to it. It occurs to him that he doesn’t know what the weather is like outside and what he should dress like so he walks over to the window and pulls the curtain aside.

It’s bright out, not from the sun but from the multitude of lights dotted in the darkness. He squints at the horizon, he guesses that they’re only an hour or two off of sunrise but it’s still pretty dark out. He glances back down at the lights and marvels at the streets spread below him, he’s never seen so many lights in one place, even Water 7 at night wasn’t this lit up. He squeaks in something between surprise and delight to see these… things zooming about with some speed in the little roads below. For a moment wonder overpowers his anxiety and he stares, the things are boxy and have each got two lights on the front of them too, he’s never seen anything quite like them before. Zoro appears at his side, fully dressed and with a thick looking green leather jacket on that looks stiff in the joints.

“What’re you looking at?” Zoro asks with a frown as he peers through the same window as Sanji.

“I was looking to see what the weather was like, but what are those?” He asks somewhat excitedly as he points to the things zooming through the roads with their lights on. Zoro looks from where he’s pointing and back to him with an even more worried look on his face.

“Tell me you’re not asking me what a car is.” Zoro says flatly, his face something between horrified and disbelieving.

“A ka-aar?” He tries rolling the word around in his mouth, Zoro said it a little like cart without a t.

Zoro’s eye twitches and Sanji swears that he hears something almost like a whine of fear slip from Zoro’s throat. The man shakes himself and his ever present scowl returns.

“Put this on and finish getting dressed. It’s cold out.” Zoro says tightly and shoves a thick leather jacket into his hands before disappearing into the other room again.

Sanji glowers at the door, as usual Zoro is being irritating and unhelpful. He looks down to the jacket in his hands that Zoro unceremoniously left him with, it’s black with reflective silver edging running across it. It feels stiff and heavy in his hands and it takes a few moments before he realises that the jacket is somehow armoured. He feels it a little more curiously and finds that it has a thick plate in the back of it and another curved one in each elbow. Figuring that he has nothing better to do than what Zoro has told him to do he pulls on a blue hooded sweatshirt identical to the one that he wore after Thriller Bark, some things are still the same evidently. He slides himself into some trousers that fit him perfectly and with a little difficulty he shrugs on the jacket and finds it unusual to feel so restricted. In the right pocket of the jacket are two bulky gloves that are armoured and padded as well, ever careful of his hands he puts them on. He has no idea what Zoro is preparing him for but it is always better to be over-prepared for a situation than under-prepared.

Fully dressed he walks back out into the mains rooms and finds Zoro sitting on one of the chairs zipping up a clunky looking boot on his foot. Next to the marimo’s feet are another pair of boots that Sanji guesses are for him. Sanji walks over to him and takes the boots silently. He’s about to sit on the sofa to put them on but sees that there are two helmets already taking up the space, one is a shiny lime green and the other is silver and blue. Unsurprisingly Zoro grabs the green one and puts it on, leaving space on the sofa for Sanji to sit down and put his boots on. He feels a little numb and out of his depth as he follows Zoro’s example and puts the remaining helmet on. He’s no idea what’s going on or why they’re dressed so strangely and the fact that Zoro’s telling him squat makes him more than a little nervous. How exactly is Zoro planning on getting them to the hospital, by firing them out of a goddamn cannon or something?

“Come on, even I know the way to the hospital from here.” Zoro announces and opens the front door and holds it open. As Sanji passes him he swears that he can hear Zoro mutter something like ‘at least I hope I can’ under his breath. He follows Zoro into a lift and tries to keep calm, Chopper will surely have some answers unlike the stupid marimo. He tries not to panic at the strangeness of the situation, Zoro isn’t helping by walking around without his swords like he’s not missing a damn thing. It was just forgivable when Zoro was in his pyjamas after just waking up but now Zoro is fully dressed and leaving his ‘home’ with Wado laying forgotten on the mantelpiece and Sanji having seen neither hide nor hair of the white swords two fellows. Moments later the lift doors ding open and Zoro exits the lift leaving Sanji little choice yet again but to follow him. They’re in a large room, if you can call it that, which is filled with lots of the “car” things that Sanji had spotted from the window earlier, they’re big and boxy and clearly designed for carrying people. These ones are all empty and their bright lights are off.

Zoro comes to a stop in front of a bright green… thing. It looks a bit like a bicycle, in the same way that a house cat looks a bit like a lion. It reminds him a little of Smoker’s bike, but the man powered that with his devil’s fruit power, something which Zoro distinctly lacks. Nevertheless Zoro swings his leg over the side, kicks at something on the side of the bike with his heel and twists something up the front that makes the bike roar to life. To his shame he jumps a little at the sudden noise. He manages to compose himself by the time Zoro looks over his shoulder at him expectantly.

“Well? Get on.” Zoro says as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. Sanji bristles but refuses to demand exactly where Zoro wants him to get on. The bike isn’t the biggest thing in the world, but he thinks that the black bit near the back of the bike might be a seat of some kind, and not too far below it is a metal bit sticking out where he could presumably put his foot. Refusing to let Zoro make him look dumb he puts his foot on the identified peg and his hands on Zoro’s shoulder’s for balance and swings his other leg over the bike. To his pleasant surprise there’s another peg on the other side and he can sit relatively comfortably on what indeed is a seat, he’s not worried about his balance which is flawless as always.

He’s just trying to figure out where to put his hands when he hears Zoro’s say something, he can’t tell what as Zoro’s voice is muffled from his helmet and Sanji’s ears are muffled by his own. He’s about to demand that Zoro repeat himself when the bike lurches forward suddenly and his body bypasses his brain in an act of self preservation and flings his arms around Zoro’s torso to avoid being thrown off of the back of the damn two wheeled thing.

Zoro picks up speed alarmingly fast, leaving Sanji holding onto Zoro for dear life. He thinks that they must be going at least as fast as that puffing tom train was, or at least it feels like it. He’s never been so exposed on something so small going so fast, if they were to hit anything they’d surely die. It occurs to him that this might be why Zoro gave him such a sturdy jacket, gloves and helmet. He yells in terror as Zoro zooms out onto a road proper, only just missing one of the giant boxy four wheeled things. The bike darts around the large vehicle, the driver of which is profusely swearing at Zoro. In what seems like some convoluted suicide attempt Zoro runs the bike through the tiniest of gaps in between those large fast travelling people carrying boxes and… well, anything else really. He rides like a crazy person just missing lamp posts, other vehicles, pedestrians and god knows what else. Sanji might be a bit of a proud man but even he’ll admit (although not in front of any ladies) that he shut his eyes and held onto Zoro like a dying man to a life raft and waited to either die or for Zoro to stop the terrible machine.

Eventually, thanks to some miracle, Zoro stops the bike with them both unharmed. After a moment Sanji releases Zoro from his vice like grip and opens his eyes, and very carefully climbs off of the evil green machine of doom as Zoro turns a key in the front of it and stops the rumbling from within the machine. Sanji yanks his helmet off and gasps lungfuls of blessed air, he’d felt a little claustrophobic in that helmet and the near death experience didn’t help. Zoro kicks a stand free from the bike and leans it carefully on it, Sanji waits patiently for Zoro to get off of the bike before kicking him in the back.

“You crazy bastard!” He yells and kicks Zoro again.

“Hey!” Zoro shouts back, trying to catch Sanji’s leg in an attempt to avoid another kick.

“You nearly killed us!” He accuses forcefully and kicks Zoro in the arm.

“Stop it, we’re fine. I know what I’m doing.” The swordsman insists, pulling his helmet off and taking Sanji’s from him. Zoro runs a chain through the two helmets and the front wheel of the bike and locks it before standing up and levelling Sanji a wary look, as if cautious against further violence against his person.

“Come on.” Zoro says and places a hand on the small of Sanji’s back and steers him towards the inside of the hospital, irritably Sanji lets him.

Shortly they come to a reception desk and sitting in the seat there is a small petite blonde woman. Her name, Victoria Cindry, comes to his mind from the tangled mess in his head that is Thriller Bark, he ended up with a jumble of memories from that time, both from himself and from the experiences and memories that his zombie had. By the time he starts paying attention again he can already see that she and Zoro are arguing uselessly over calling Chopper, neither prepared to give in.

“Look, just call him already!” Zoro snaps.

“I have no reason to, you’re not hospital staff. If you have an emergency go to the emergency room and stop bothering me.” She retorts with a glare.

“Who do you call if you’ve got something stuck up your ass then?” Zoro growls, his fingers tensed so hard on the desk separating the two of them that his knuckles are going white.

“Oh, it’s that sort of emergency is it? That’d be a proctologist.” Cindry answers with a devious smile.

“Oh good, then you’ll know who to call if you don’t call Chopper for me, cause if you don’t I’m gonna ram my foot so far up your ass that-” Zoro snarls before Sanji cuts him off with a knee to the kidneys. He’s not going to let Zoro talk to a pretty lady like that, even if she is refusing to call Chopper for them through the hospital intercom for no good reason.

“Ahahah, please excuse my idiot friend here, he doesn’t know how to talk to pretty ladies such as yourself.” He smiles charmingly at Cindry as he shoves Zoro behind him with the flat of his hand, she eyes him suspiciously but doesn’t say anything. Zoro, for his part stays put and silent thankfully, so Sanji continues.

“I have to be honest with you here, he hit his head this morning and he’s not been quite right since, all angry temper and that. And Chopper’s an old friend of ours and for some reason the only way I could convince him to see a doctor was to come and see him, you see? So I’d really appreciate it if you’d call him for me, I’d hate for him to lose his temper again in his state and mess up your nice waiting area.” Sanji lies smoothly.

Cindry looks at him suspiciously and then looks over Sanji’s shoulder to Zoro, Sanji subtly follows her look through his hair and sees Zoro pull a crazy enough face to corroborate his story. Apparently convinced she shoos them away with a wave of her hand and picks up the phone and hears her explaining the situation quietly down the phone.

Zoro stops and leans against the wall, waiting for Chopper to get down to them. He eyes Sanji with dark eyes and he smirks in a motion so familiar that Sanji knows it by heart.

“You’re a shockingly good liar sometimes, you’d make Usopp blush.” Zoro snorts quietly so that Cindry doesn’t overhear them.

“Shut up asshole, you can’t talk to ladies like that.” Sanji retorts, jabbing Zoro in the chest.

“And lying to them is better?” Zoro grins teasingly. Sanji feels his face flush at that because he doesn’t usually approve of lying to ladies either but sometimes it’s necessary. He absently kicks Zoro in the ankle but the man’s boot stops any real damage from occurring.

“Sanji, Zoro, are you two okay? What’s the big emergency?” Chopper’s voice says from behind Sanji. Sanji turns but can’t spot the little reindeer anywhere. He frowns, feeling confused, he’s sure that he heard Chopper’s voice.

“He’s lost his memory… sort of.” Zoro explains with a sigh. Sanji turns again, trying to see where Chopper is if Zoro is talking to him. But there’s no reindeer anywhere at all! There’s a skinny kid in a lab coat standing near them, but no Chopper.

“He looks disorientated.” The skinny kid says in Chopper’s voice.

He gawps, that skinny kid just spoke in Chopper’s voice, straight out of his entirely human and not at all reindeer mouth! The kid is skinny, perhaps sixteen at the most, with out of control tufty brown hair, but most noticeably of all, he’s not a reindeer.

“Sanji, are you feeling okay? Talk to me.” The kid says again, and there’s no mistaking it, that’s Chopper’s voice. And those big brown concerned eyes have more than a passing resemblance to Chopper’s own ones. Sanji recoils in horror, this seriously can’t be right. How is it possible for this day to get stranger. He backs into Zoro who gently places a steadying hand at the small of his back, and ordinarily Sanji would kick the marimo for such a gesture, as if he were a weak child or something, but right now he’s feeling unnerved enough to let him.

“Ch-chopper?” he asks shakily, staring at the worried looking kid.

“Yes Sanji? Tell me what the problem is.” The kid, apparently Chopper, says. Sanji feels his brain rebel at the whole idea and at this whole terrible day. First he gets given a magic lotus, eats it and wakes up in a strange place with no clue how he got there, in bed with Zoro who seems to think nothing is amiss aside from him, he nearly got killed on the back of that machine with Zoro and now some kid is talking to him with Chopper’s voice as if he were the little doctor!

“You- you’re not a reindeer! Who are you?!” He yells pointing an accusing finger at the kid who he refuses to believe is really Chopper. He feels the hand on the small of his back shift as Zoro’s fingers twitch tensely and hears the despairing groan slide from the other man’s lips.

“This is the problem. It’s memory loss, sort of. I need you to fix him.” Zoro sighs.


	3. Chapter 3

Sanji has always disliked seeing doctors. This isn’t to say that he dislikes Chopper at all, that’d be incredibly hard to do, but it does mean that he’s uncomfortable being poked, prodded and examined when he feels perfectly fine. And he does feel perfectly fine, his memories are okay and he’s not forgotten anything, it’s just that the world is suddenly not matching what’s in his brain. That’s the world’s problem though, not his.

Chopper however seems to think that the problem is with him. He’s had torches shone in his eyes, his temperature taken, blood tested, he’s been questioned about obvious things like ‘do two and two equal five?’, they even stuck him in a massive machine that looks at your brain and been asked questions. He’s told Chopper a few facts about his life and about Zoro, Chopper’s face went a funny colour when he said about Zoro’s three swords and his fight with Mihawk. This however is too far. Chopper has sat him down after sending Zoro out of the room on a flimsy errand for coffee and asked him the dumbest question ever.

“Sanji, if… if this is a prank that’s accidentally gone too far then you should tell me. I’ll work out something to tell Zoro, I’ll say that I fixed you. But if you’ve… invented this whole thing yourself, now would be the time to say.” The kid, who looks barely over a day older than sixteen and claims that he’s Chopper, says nervously with his fingers nervously picking at his white coat.

“You think I’m making this up?!” he snaps angrily. He’s put up with all of these stupid tests and questions about his life and now Chopper has the gall to ask him if he’s just doing this for kicks?

“I’m not accusing you of anything! I just… I hope you are. Because if you’re not then I’ve almost no idea what’s wrong with you, which means I have no idea how to fix it.” Chopper answers meekly. Sanji glowers at him but feels his resolve crumble when the kid’s bottom lip trembles sadly.

He flops back in his chair bonelessly and sighs deeply.

“I wish I were making this up. But I’ve woken up in a world I don’t understand or remember, what else can I say?” He sighs.

Chopper nods at this and sighs pretty deeply himself. Sanji finds himself caught between being unable to believe that this kid is Chopper on account of him not looking anything like the doctor and not even being the same goddamn species as him and completely accepting it. All you have to do is look at the kid’s body language and hear his voice because those two just scream Chopper in flashing neon lights.

“About… about you and Zoro. I… in your memories what’s your relationship with him?” Chopper asks quietly, apparently taking advantage of Zoro’s absence to ask this pressing question.

“I hate Zoro and he hates me. He’s a rude, sloppy, irritating bastard.” He answers sharply, his temper already frayed with the irritating events of today.

It’s then that he notices something, it’s not a sound but rather the sudden cessation of a sound that had been there previously and ignored. Like noticing that a clock has stopped ticking he notices the sudden absence of thunking boot steps. With a creeping horror he looks up to see Zoro framed by the open door with two white cups in hand frozen where he stands. Sanji’s never thought of Zoro as a person with a great emotional range outside of rage, sleepiness, poor table manners and being an annoying git. But Zoro’s face now is all different kinds of hurt that Sanji’s never seen on him before, as if Sanji’s just ruined the most precious thing ever, Zoro didn’t even look this hurt when Robin betrayed them at Water-7.

Zoro shakes his head after a moment and steps forward, roughly pushing one of the white cups into Sanji’s hand. Startled he takes it. He looks down into his mug feeling something almost like guilt niggle at him until he notices that this drink isn’t coffee, Zoro was sent out for coffee and that’s not what he’s brought back.

“This isn’t coffee.” He states numbly as Zoro stomps off to the other side of the room and leans against the wall and scowls at the floor.

“Yeah, and neither’s that piss they serve in the machines out there. I wasn’t gonna bring you that, so shut up and drink.” Zoro snaps tensely. The marimo levels his scowl at Chopper now, causing the little doctor to visibly flinch.

“So can you fix him or what?” Zoro demands brashly.

Chopper starts babbling nervously about brain chemistry and other boring crap like that so Sanji tunes him out, it’s not like he understands any of that medical mumbo jumbo. Hesitantly he takes a sip of the drink that Zoro brought him. It’s not coffee, it’s tea. Not especially good tea mind, and Sanji would bet his boots that it’s due to the quality of the tea bag, but it’s served the way he likes it, no sugar at all and just the teensiest splash of milk to lighten the flavour. He looks suspiciously at Zoro who’s thankfully paying attention to Chopper’s ramblings and not him. How on earth does Zoro know how he likes his tea? He’s been sailing with the man six months and they’ve never had tea together. He’s seen Zoro accept it from someone as a guest but he’s never made any for himself and certainly he’s not made any for Sanji.

“So basically you’ve no idea what’s wrong and you can’t fix him.” Zoro says, his voice cutting through Sanji’s thoughts. He looks up at Chopper who appears incredibly stressed out.

“That’s not what I said. Memories are tricky things, we barely understand them enough as is. Maybe all his memories will come back just like that,” Chopper says clicking his fingers, “or maybe not at all, or perhaps only bits and pieces will return. It’s impossible to say which. There’s no magic pill I can give him that’ll just undo this, you’ve both just got to work at it and try to stay calm. My guess as to what has happened is that something in the night caused him to lose his memories, possibly a stroke of some kind or an infection, and what little memories he could retain got mixed in with some dream he was having. Perhaps his brain tried to weave the two into a semi-coherent narrative.” The doctor explains.

“That just sounds like a more technical version of what he said.” Sanji points out, jerking his head in Zoro’s direction. He catches the sly smirk flittering across Zoro’s face for a second before Chopper speaks up to defend himself.

“That’s not- look, I’ll look more at the test results and get a few colleagues to have a look, see if they’ve got any ideas. For the meantime you two go home and take things easy, he needs to avoid stress so no work and don’t leave him unsupervised either.” Chopper commands in his best doctor voice before standing up and shooing them out of his office.

Standing in the hallway with Zoro Sanji starts to feel a little uneasy. He’s woken up in some strange world with no idea of anything that’s happened and of all the rotten luck he’s stuck with Zoro. He doesn’t know what he’s supposed to say in this situation. And from the uncertain look on the marimo’s face the other man is feeling equally adrift.

With a decisive noise Zoro jerks his head to the right in an obvious ‘follow me’ motion and strides off confidently down the corridor to the right. Sanji actually lets him get a few paces before the feeling of amusement gets too much and he speaks up.

“Hey, it’s this way dumbass.” He points out snarkily. Zoro pauses at that and turns back to face him, with a hint of uncertainty on his face he looks from Sanji to back down the way he was going then back to Sanji again.

“I’m pretty sure that it’s this way. I remember coming this way.” Zoro says with a level of certainty that Sanji can hear dropping with every consecutive word.

“Then why does my way have signs pointing to the exit and the reception that we came through?” He points out with a devious grin and gestures to the signs hanging from the ceiling. Zoro’s face is a priceless mix of embarrassment and determination.

“That was… deliberate. To make you feel better. I knew it was that way really.” Zoro says lying through his teeth.

“Wow, even Usopp would be ashamed of that lie.” He snipes as they set off down the right path out of the hospital. When Zoro doesn’t respond Sanji glances over at the other man who is frozen in place and Sanji finds himself almost completely disarmed by Zoro’s brilliant beaming smile. It’s not that he’s never seen Zoro smile like that, though it is rare, but he’s certainly never had it directed at him.

“What?” He asks, feeling like the ground has shifted from under him again, everything was so normal a moment ago and now the world is back to being strangeville.

“You remembered something right, about Usopp I mean.” Zoro grins happily.

“I- it was an insult, dumbass.” He responds uneasily.

“Oh good, you’re acting more and more like you by the minute. Let’s go home, idiot-cook.” Zoro laughs affectionately bumping his shoulder against Sanji’s and continuing down the corridor leaving Sanji feeling unnerved and ill at ease.

He follows Zoro through the rest of the hospital in complete silence except for when he has to change Zoro’s direction to the right path. Zoro for his part seems content to remain quiet as they walk together through the hospital. Sanji’s mind however is racing, seeing Chopper and arguing with Zoro had taken his mind off of things a bit, but now all he can think about is the strangeness of the situation that he’s in. He’s following Zoro back to his bike to go home. Now home is an odd place, if the place that he woke up in is indeed his home then something very strange is going on here. The clothes in the wardrobe were definitely his, that much is clear, what little he saw of the kitchen made it look like something he’d dream of having and there were photos about the place of the two of them. He more than likely lived there, so it probably was indeed his home. However he’d woken up in bed with Zoro and Zoro’s sword had been on the mantelpiece, it didn’t look like it’d just been left there instead it looked more like the place that Zoro kept it, although he had no idea why the marimo didn’t have it with him at all times. All this implied that he and Zoro lived together and furthermore slept in the same bed, that taken with the overwhelming concern that Zoro had shown him and his face when he heard him saying that they hated each other suggested… well. It suggested something that wasn’t and couldn’t be the case.

It suggested that they were in some sort of… relationship. This, clearly, would never ever happen for several reasons. Firstly was that he and Zoro fought endlessly, the two of them could barely have more than five minutes of conversation without breaking out into an argument and often they’d be lucky if they made it that long. Secondly Sanji was all about the ladies, and okay yeah, in the privacy of his own head he might admit that a few attractive men had caught his eye over the years but he’d never done more than drunkenly kiss one, he certainly wouldn’t throw himself into a relationship with one, much less Zoro. And… okay, when he first saw Zoro his eyes had wandered a little over the man appreciatively, that was until Zoro had opened his big mouth and rubbed Sanji entirely the wrong way. In fact it was Zoro’s tendency to rub him the wrong way that irked Sanji so. He was always rude and irritating for no reason, he didn’t show the right respect for the ladies and most of all he’d go and do something heroic and noble just frequently enough for Sanji to think that perhaps the man wasn’t all bad before reverting to his previous behaviour. All of those things pointed quite clearly to him and Zoro ever being anything more than nakama as having a snowball’s chance in hell.

And it wasn’t just him either, Zoro clearly thought about as much of him as he did of Zoro. He seemed to love goading and winding Sanji up more than anything. Further to that he’d never ever seen Zoro cast so much as an appreciative glance at him or anyone for that matter. Hell Nami could walk past Zoro in the skimpiest bikini you could imagine and Zoro wouldn’t so much as look, in fact he’d seen it happen, she might as well have walked past him wrapped up head to toe in clothes for all the attention Zoro paid. And even if ladies weren’t Zoro’s thing it wasn’t as if the rest of the crew was especially generous with clothing, after all Franky barely wore anything and between the whole male crew they had almost every body type a man could choose and none of them seemed to do anything for Zoro. The man seemed to have all the libido of a rock.

So what the hell were he and Zoro doing living together and sharing a bed?

In all the time he’d been mulling over those thoughts he and Zoro have arrived back at the green death machine that Zoro brought them here on. He feels that he has to say something about this madness, he has to have some real answers.

“Zoro, why do we live together?” He asks quietly. Zoro pauses, his helmet halfway to his head. The marimo squeezes his eyes shut and lets a calming breath out of his nose before lowering the helmet again.

“Do we have to talk about this?” he replies without meeting Sanji’s eyes as he tensely taps a finger on the side of the helmet.

“Uh, yeah we have to talk about it.” Sanji snorts, if it wasn’t important he wouldn’t be asking about it would he? And it’s hardly a little question is it?

“Well why do you think?” Zoro answers snippily and turns a key in the front of the bike and bends to unlock the chain from around the front wheel.

“I think that we must be in some sort of… relationship together, which is crazy. And I’d appreciate a goddamn answer from you, and look at me when I’m talking to you!” Sanji snaps irritably, kicking the armoured back of Zoro’s jacket. Zoro moves quickly, he always has. In one quick move he’s grabbed Sanji’s foot and spun around so that he’s facing him, it’s only Sanji’s flexibility and good balance that’s stopped him landing on his ass from that movement. He experimentally jerks his leg but Zoro’s grip is solid, his face is about two inches from Sanji’s own and his scowl is fierce, at least some things are still the same then.

“I’m not going to talk about this with you, so drop it. I can’t deal with that right now so just… stop. Okay?” Zoro says, his voice softening as he drops Sanji’s foot, clearly prepared to drop this argument. Sanji however is not at all prepared to do that, he needs answers and he won’t be denied by Zoro!

“What do you mean you can’t deal with it? I’m the one who’s woken up with no idea of where I am or what the hell’s going on! You’re perfectly fine, so answer me!” Sanji snaps, pushing back at Zoro with his foot now that the other man’s been foolish enough to let go of it. This time when Zoro catches his foot he actually does push back with enough force to send Sanji falling onto his ass. The swordsman looms over him suddenly, his face like a thundercloud.

“No, I’m not fine! I had to wake up to find that the love of my life remembers barely a goddamn thing about me and most of what he does remember is wrong! I’m the one who had to listen to you saying to Chopper that you hate me and why. I’m the one that just spent three hours watching you go through tests I didn’t even know existed and sick half to death with worry that you might have brain cancer or something else fatally wrong with you! So, no, I’m not prepared to hear on top of all of this that you’d rather cut your own hands off than be with me!” Zoro yells at him. His eyes are wide and somewhere between furious and terrified, his fists are shut tight but Sanji can see that they’re shaking. Zoro looks like he’s torn between punching him in the face and falling to pieces himself, and from what he’s just said Sanji’s not sure that he’s wrong about that.

Zoro winces and crouches down on the floor in front of where Sanji’s still sat after Zoro toppled him over. He watches Zoro almost… crumple as his expression becomes tired and wrung out. Sanji hadn’t thought about Zoro at all, he’s so used to assuming that Zoro can deal with himself that he’s never really thought about how the other man feels about anything. He’s certainly never worried about hurting the other man’s feelings. But he supposes that if his assumption that he and Zoro are in some sort of… relationship is correct then it makes sense that Zoro might have a certain amount of emotion invested in his wellbeing. He watches Zoro’s face as the other man quickly tries to build his calm back up and paper up the cracks in his façade that their argument just ripped open, it’s almost painful to see.

“Do you think you can just… leave off about this for a while?” Zoro mutters quietly as he cards a hand through his own marimo green hair.

“Sure, I can wait. Just don’t knock me on my ass again.” Sanji concedes, trying to lighten the mood in an offering of peace. He’d not thought about upsetting Zoro and now that he knows he has he feels a little bad about it.

“Won’t make any promises about that, besides, if you were any good I wouldn’t be able to.” Zoro grins back challengingly as he stands up in one smooth motion.

Sanji feels his jaw actually drop. Zoro was a wreck just a moment ago and he tries to be nice and pleasant so the other man will forgive him and now Zoro’s back to insulting him?! Sanji clenches his teeth irritably and wishes desperately for a cigarette, he’s pretty sure he wouldn’t smoke quite so much if Zoro wasn’t always so fucking irritating!

“Bite me moss-head! And I’m not getting on your stupid suicide bike either!” He snaps and kicks Zoro in the back of the knee and pulls himself to his feet as well. Zoro laughs loudly and climbs on the back of his bike and puts his helmet on in what looks like a well practiced movement.

“Oh, so you’re walking home then are you? Good thing you know the way back on foot or else you’d be out here with no shelter, food or money. Or would you rather get on the bike?” Zoro says tauntingly through his open visor, his voice only slightly distorted through the green helmet. After a second Zoro teasingly holds out the helmet that Sanji wore on the way here, Sanji looks from the helmet to Zoro and back again. He considers the fact that he’s no idea where the hell he is and that Zoro’s right in pointing out that he has no money or any other way to survive on his own right now.

“Shut your stupid face and drive.” He growls, snatching the helmet from the now laughing Zoro and putting it on as he reluctantly climbs on the horrible green machine of death. Predictably Zoro doesn’t drive slowly or carefully like a nice person would. Instead he repeats his earlier behaviour of apparently trying to kill them at high speeds. As Sanji clings onto Zoro’s chest for dear life he tries to stop Zoro’s words from echoing in his head because they’re doing funny things to his brain.

‘the love of my life’


	4. Chapter 4

It’s early afternoon by the time they get back to the building Sanji woke up in, he refuses to call it home, and Zoro pretty much leaves him alone after that to do other things. He appears to be making calls on… well, on what seems to be a small snail phone without the snail part. It seems to work much the same way though, he can hear Zoro repeatedly briefly explaining his and Chopper’s version of what’s happened to various people.

He doesn’t much care for Zoro’s version of events, the more the day goes on the less convinced he is that Zoro’s right. There’s just no way he managed to somehow dream up his whole life, there’s just too many memories going far too long back in time for that to be true. This means that his world is real and eating that lotus has really sent him somewhere else, somewhere where there apparently aren’t pirates or devil’s fruits or magic flowers. All he knows is that somehow he needs to get back to his own world, thoughts on how to do that though aren’t especially forthcoming, he doesn’t have the lotus any more and there’s no obvious exit from this place. He supposes that his best bet is to try to stay here and await rescue until a better option comes along, no doubt his nakama will be searching for him and Luffy’s not one to give up on a man or abandon a crew member as lost.

Still… that doesn’t leave him with an awful lot of productive things to do right now so he spends his time subtly eavesdropping on Zoro’s conversations and trying to surreptitiously see if there are any secret doors in the walls of this place. After a while he just tunes Zoro out, the man’s pretty much repeating the same thing to each person he calls, and with only being able to hear one side of the conversation it’s not too interesting. By now he’s just lounging on the sofa wondering how the hell his life got so screwed up. Zoro’s low voice is kind of soothing though when you tune out all the dumb stuff he’s saying, he could almost drop off to sleep. He’s jolted back into alertness as his ears perk up at the mention of a particularly lovely name.

“Robin? Hi, it’s me.” Zoro says with an edge of weariness to his voice. Sanji turns his body slightly and observes Zoro through the curtain of his hair. The man’s leaning against the kitchen counter with his eyes shut and one hand scratching at his hair in what Sanji slowly realises is a stress tic of some kind.

“No, no I’m fine… there’s no emergency at the museum. Yeah- I know you’re flying back here soon but I thought you’d want to know about this as soon as possible. It’s… it’s Sanji.” Zoro explains with pauses to let Robin speak. Zoro’s fingers scratch at his hair again, definitely a sign of stress. He’s never seen Zoro do anything like that before, Zoro doesn’t tend to do stressed and worried.

“He’s lost his memory, well kind of. It’s sort of hard to explain. He remembers some stuff but other stuff it’s like he dreamt it or something. I took him to Chopper, he looked him over and he’s not… dying or anything.” Zoro says tensely. Sanji watches his grip on the phone tighten noticeably before Zoro seems to catch himself and shake the tension loose before he breaks something.

It’s almost interesting watching this version of Zoro, the more he watches him the more he realises that this man is completely different from the Zoro he knows. The Zoro he knows is very closed with careful body language and all the apparent emotional range of a rock, the Zoro he knows is snappish and irritating. But this Zoro… this Zoro is expressive in his movement, he’s seen this Zoro worried, scared, angry, relieved and he’s even seen snatches of brilliant happiness.

Zoro pauses and Sanji can hear a tiny tinny sound coming from the phone that he can recognise as speech but not make out any words. After a few moments a weak smile stretches Zoro’s lips.

“Thanks, I’m… I’m doing okay. How’s your trip be- is that your boarding call I can hear in the background? I- yeah. Yeah, no problem. I’ll see you two when you get back, have a safe flight okay? And say hi to Luffy for us. Yeah… bye.” Zoro almost sighs as he takes the phone from his ear and presses a button on it. He taps the phone thoughtfully on his lip for a few moments before standing up fully and putting the phone back in his pocket.

Sanji tries not to gawp. That was Zoro having a perfectly polite and genuine conversation with Robin if he’s not much mistaken. This isn’t to say that Zoro is ruder to Robin than he is to other people, although he’s not exactly polite to her usually. But ever since he met her there’s always been a wary air of suspicion in his conversations with her, though that diminished somewhat after Enis Lobby where the whole crew saw just how much she valued them. But still, he’s never heard Zoro sound so… congenial to her.

“Come on you, you’re gonna be late.” Zoro states suddenly, startling Sanji into looking up at him.

“Late? For what?” He asks startled and puzzled by Zoro’s words.

“For work, and if you’re late one of us is going to get their asses kicked and I’m not above tripping you up so it’s you that gets it in the neck and not me. So come on.” Zoro says shrugging on a long black trench coat that reaches almost to his knees. He stuffs his hands in the pockets and looks at Sanji expectantly but Sanji doesn’t feel like moving without a better explanation than that, especially when the explanation he was given sounds vaguely like it could be a threat.

“No one kicks my ass.” He asserts confidently and sets his jaw firmly. Zoro raises an eyebrow at that and a sharp grin appears on his tan face.

“Well, I’ll tell Zeff that you said that when you saunter in late for work shall I?” Zoro grins teasingly. Sanji feels his eyes almost bug out of his head in surprise and his all but scrambles across the other end of the sofa towards Zoro.

“Zeff! Zeff is here? I work with Zeff?!” He gasps excitedly. Zoro’s face saddens a little at that but Sanji is so desperate to hear Zoro’s answer that he doesn’t flinch when Zoro touches the side of his face.

“Of course you do, you always have, don’t you remember that? Please tell me you haven’t forgotten the Baratie too.” Zoro murmurs with a deep frown.

“I- of course I remember. I grew up on the Baratie with Zeff, I already told you that. But… but I left, to join up with you and Luffy. To find All-Blue.” He breathes still able to recall the very moment his foot left the boards of his floating restaurant home to leave with Luffy.

“You left him? Why would- what’s All-Blue?” Zoro asks sounding confused. Sanji frowns to himself, he’s getting sick of having to explain such obvious things but clearly he’s going to have to if this conversation is going to continue and if he’s going to find anything out about this world’s version of Zeff.

“It’s a place in the sea, where creatures from all of the four oceans of the world all live, it’s a magical place. People say that it can’t exist, that’s it’s impossible, just the ramblings of sailors dreaming. But I know they’re wrong and it’s my dream to find it, and it was Zeff’s too.” He explains desperate for more information.

Zoro remains quiet for a few moments before sitting down on the arm of a chair nearby. He gives Sanji a small frown and a searching look.

“That doesn’t sound like the Sanji I know, abandoning his family to chase after some impossible and probably imaginary thing. The Sanji I know wouldn’t leave Zeff all alone for such a small thing.” Zoro asserts bluntly and levels an unimpressed look at Sanji.

Sanji’s jaw falls open at that, he’s actually completely stunned for a moment or two before the rage kicks in. It boils through his veins and forces him from his seat in a fit of anger. How dare Zoro belittle his dream or his motives like that?

“FUCK YOU! Don’t you dare say anything like that about my dream! I ought to kick your goddamn head off you bastard! And how dare you accuse me of abandoning Zeff?! It’s his dream too, I’m chasing it for him as well!” he snarls leaping forward and shoving Zoro in the chest angrily.

“Bullshit, if that was Zeff’s dream he’d be chasing it himself. You’re just doing that for yourself.” Zoro snorts and bats Sanji’s hand away.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, so don’t pretend you do! Zeff wants to find All-Blue as much as me, it’s just when he saved my life and lost his leg he had to give up on it. We built the Baratie together and dreamt of All-Blue together without caring what everyone else thought! So when Luffy came along and offered to let me come with him Zeff said I could go, so I set off to find All-Blue for both of us.” He retorts angrily.

Zoro looks at him carefully for a few moments before standing up and straightening out his coat.

“That definitely doesn’t sound like my Sanji. That sounds to me like Zeff met you and realised that some things in life are more important than imaginary oceans. Sounds like he thought that you were more important, I guess you didn’t think the same of him.” Zoro says flatly and shoots a challenging look his way.

Sanji feels all the rage rush out of him like air from a balloon and a cold creeping sensation replace it.

“No, it’s… it’s not like that. He… he wanted me to go. I would never just abandon him for nothing, I know it’s out there and I’m going to prove us both right.” He says weakly.

“Whatever. Just don’t tell the old man about that, you’ll break his heart. Let’s just go already.” Zoro says dismissively and opens the front door. Still disorientated and numb Sanji finds himself ushered out of the door with a coat thrown at his arms and the door shut again behind him.

Once again with no other choice he follows Zoro into the lift and out onto the street, he’s somewhat relieved to find that they’re not riding on that green bike from hell again though. Instead he follows Zoro in silence through streets which by now are starting to get dark.

As he walks anxious thoughts keep nipping at him like a swarm of mosquitoes that won’t go away. Zeff wanted him to go, he knows that, hell everyone at the Baratie went so far as to try to trick him into leaving didn’t they? The whole crew wanted him to chase his dream. If Zeff had wanted him to stay he would have said something wouldn’t he? …Wouldn’t he? Then again it wasn’t as if he and the old man were particularly communicative, if Zeff hadn’t wanted him to go then the old man probably wouldn’t have said anything either. But… shit. No, Zoro was wrong. He hadn’t abandoned Zeff or his home, he’d set out to chase his dream for them, not at their expense.

Although stranded in the mire of his thoughts he has enough awareness to pay attention to where he’s going. The route is simple enough, almost a straight line in fact and it’s barely three minutes before Sanji spots the lit up sign hanging down the street. The word Baratie is scrawled across it in letters so familiar to him that Sanji almost wonders if they’re carved into his very bones. He can’t help but run towards the place as excitement hums through his blood.

The restaurant is big and, okay, land based, but it bears more than just a passing resemblance to the ship that he grew up in. The building is three stories high, just like the Baratie that he knows, and the outside is painted the same colour as he remembers. He glances curiously at the menu board on the wall outside and spies several dishes that were a speciality at the Baratie, things that he remembers cooking in a warm, bustling, busy kitchen.

“You just gonna stand outside gawping or are you coming in?” Zoro smirks as he swishes by Sanji in his long coat and through the double doors into the Baratie as if he owns the place. Feeling flustered Sanji catches up to Zoro and almost falls over himself when he sees the man standing at a podium by the door.

“Welcome honoured gue- Oh, it’s just you. You’re fucking late Sanji.” Patty says with a sharp glare and in a loud enough voice that a few customers glance around at his coarse words. Sanji rolls his eyes, but something in his chest flutters at seeing Patty again. He and the man never saw eye to eye but the irritating man is still family, though Sanji wouldn’t describe him as like a brother to him, perhaps more as that irritating cousin that’s always too loud.

“Shut your ugly face Patty.” Zoro snorts, breezing by Patty and smacking his hand into the man’s forehead as he goes by. Sanji stifles a laugh and runs to catch up with Zoro. The marimo is winding his way through the tables as easily as Sanji could do at the Baratie that he remembers, not a single waiter is sparing either of them a glance as if this is all perfectly normal.

Zoro shoulders his way through the ‘in’ doors to the kitchen and Sanji finds himself a little impressed that Zoro has the sense to do that rather than just barge through the ‘out’ doors and knock someone over.

The kitchen is chaos as always but Sanji feels at home here. The kitchen is almost exactly the same as it was at the Baratie that he remembers, in fact he can almost feel the swell of the ocean under the floorboard beneath his feet. The kitchen is warm and packed with familiar faces and voices cursing one another loudly. If his life had a sound then this would be it, the sound of chefs bickering and laughing, the sound of food sizzling, the smell of a hundred dishes filling his nose and the heat of oven burners warming his cheeks. He’s actually breathless for a few seconds and he realises that he’s lost Zoro in the haze of the kitchen and the mass of people.

A few moments scanning the room and he spots the ridiculously tall chef’s hat towering above everyone and his heart leaps into his throat. Zeff. Uncaring of the chaos that he might be causing he dashes through the kitchen, ducking under arms and sliding past people until he comes to a halt by the Chef that raised him. He never referred to Zeff as his father, to himself or to anyone else, and certainly not to Zeff’s face, but that’s what this feels like, seeing a father again after such a long time.

Zeff looks exactly as he remembers him, his stupid plaited moustache and square jaw with his grizzled features pulled into an expression of displeasure. Standing next to Zeff is Zoro, he’s explaining something in a low voice but falls silent as he catches sight of Sanji. Zeff looks over and frowns a little at him.

“Zeff! I-” Sanji stammers as he feels a lump forming in his throat. The last time he saw this man he was sobbing openly like a child. He had been overwhelmed with emotion for the man that adopted him, who saved his life and lost a leg in the bargain, who taught him to fight and to cook. He can feel all those feelings welling up again, he wants to tell him all that’s he’s done, all that he’s seen and of all the people he’s met.

“It’s good to see you, I- I missed you.” He manages as he blinks his eyes dry and swallows the lump building threateningly in his throat.

“I saw you just last night, eggplant.” Zeff says flatly, his eyes narrowing.

“What? I’ve not seen you in six months I’ve been at sea I…” He trails off. But of course his memories aren’t matching up to this world are they? In his world, the real world, he’s been away from the old man for half a year, but here he’s never left the man just as Zoro said.

“You see what I mean? Some stuff he remembers but most of it is… well.” Zoro shrugs and gestures to Sanji as if that explains things.

“He was fine when he left here last night, he didn’t hit his head or anything.” Zeff says thoughtfully, and gives Sanji a searching look.

“Well, keep an eye on him I guess. You can do that.” Zeff says gruffly and leans back on his chair and crosses one leg over the other.

Sanji’s eyes almost fall out of his head in shock and he can’t believe that he didn’t spot it earlier! Zeff has two legs! Not a peg leg in sight! Without thinking he grabs the hem of the trouser leg that should be a peg leg and yanks it up. There’s no peg leg there but equally there’s no flesh and blood leg either.

What’s there instead is a thing of plastic and metal. He can see the complicated mechanics as the false leg merges with Zeff’s real calf and at the ankle there are complex ball bearings and wires. Along the edge of the plastic Sanji spots some letters and numbers. ‘BF-103’.

It hits him, Franky made this. Franky is around and knows Zeff, he made him a new leg. Sanji spots the irritated twitch of Zeff’s fake foot that signals that he’s not willing to put up with such silliness much longer and he can’t believe that this leg isn’t real, it moves so perfectly. Sanji finds himself struck with awe at what Zeff must be like in a fight with this thing, he always felt bad that he crippled the man so that he couldn’t fight like he used to, but surely with this Zeff must be a dream in battle. He glances up to see Zeff looking down at him levelly.

“You remember how I lost it?” Zeff questions him with a voice filled with seriousness.

“Of course I do.” He replies but finds himself hesitating, his other memories haven’t matched up with this world and regardless of whether this world is real or just a dream he doesn’t want to belittle that memory. But he can’t deny Zeff an answer.

“There was a storm on the ship, I got washed overboard, probably would have drowned. But you leapt in and saved me and lost your leg in a chain in the process. We both nearly died. We set up the Baratie together, I owed… owe you so much.” He says quietly. Zeff looks at him for a few long moments and Sanji can tell from Zoro’s expression that his answer wasn’t quite right. But Zeff’s hand lands on his head and runs briefly through his hair.

“You remember the important things.” Zeff states simply and stands up, letting the leg of his trousers fall back down leaving everyone else none the wiser that’s not a real leg.

“Anyway, your stupid friends ought to be here soon. They usually turn up without a reservation and clean out our fridges, especially if you’ve called them to let them know that he’s not right.” Zeff states to Zoro.

“Actually, Luffy and Robin are out of the country and Franky and Ace are away, so you might be okay.” Zoro responds casually as if he’s known Zeff all his life or something.

Distantly Sanji hears his name and listens harder, he can hear Usopp’s voice muffled through the kitchen wall and Patty yelling at him for disturbing that atmosphere of their classy restaurant. Sanji rolls his eyes and makes his way out of the kitchen and spies his nakama at the door.

Usopp is arguing with Patty, he looks a little different here than in Sanji’s world. He’s a little taller perhaps but most noticeable is that his nose isn’t so ridiculously long, it’s still long but not so much that he’s in danger of blinding people now. His hair is longer too and held back with his trademark bandana, although the sharpshooter’s precious goggles are nowhere to be seen. To his right is a very exasperated looking Nami who seems to have given up interfering with the argument between Usopp and Patty. Her hair is a little longer and cut a little more stylishly, she’s dressed smartly in a stunning dress that still has some suggestions of how seriously she takes things. To her side is the kid that seems to be Chopper, he’s dressed more informally now and is wearing his pink hat which he’s pulling low over his eyes in embarrassment over the scene that Usopp’s causing. At the back is a man that Sanji doesn’t recognise for a long moment, he’s tall and skinny with dark shades over his eyes. It’s only the ever familiar afro and the distinctive clothes that make Sanji realise that he’s looking at a living version of Brook.

Nami spots him suddenly and dashes past Patty and across the restaurant towards him. He catches the low growl next to him and glances over at Zoro. The man’s face is tense and when Nami throws her arms around his neck he sees a muscle in Zoro’s jaw dance with tension. Ignoring the marimo he pays attention to the wonderful woman pressed up against him.

“Oh Sanji, we’re all so worried. How do you feel? Do you remember me?” Nami gushes as she pulls back and regards him with worried violet eyes.

“Of course I remember you, my beautiful flower! How could I forget a name as glorious as yours Nami-swan?” He flutters happily. He’s so pleased to see her and grateful that Zoro isn’t the only person that he’s stuck with, perhaps with Nami here he can stay with her until the world goes back to normal instead of spending time with dumb marimo-brains.

Nami coughs awkwardly and pulls back from him, shooting a glance at Zoro. Sanji looks at the swordsman to find him giving Nami a look that could kill. He’s distracted though when Usopp and Chopper fling themselves at him and almost knock him over. When Sanji looks up again Zoro is in conversation with the living version of Brook who has his fleshy fingers on Zoro’s shoulder comfortingly.

He faces a barrage of questions from everyone and confirms that yes, he does remember all of them, although he keeps getting creeped out by looking at Brook. It’s a little odd to look at a man and not recognise him with his skin on. Before long though Patty has kicked the lot of them to a table and sat them all down so that they don’t crowd out the restaurant.

There’s a mixture of chatter across the table, a lot of it speculating about what’s wrong with him. He rejects Chopper’s explanation that his memories are a dream that he’s convinced himself is real. But by the time food arrives they’ve all fallen back into normal rowdy Straw-hat dinner conversation with Usopp apparently having been inspired by Sanji’s brief explanation of his life to start telling sea-faring lies to Chopper who gullibly believes him.

He glances over at Zoro during the meal and is surprised. Zoro’s not eating like it’s a race, he’s actually got some table manners. And the pleasant conversation of their nakama seems to have lightened his mood from the death glare that he was giving Nami earlier, if it weren’t for the fact that Zoro’s barely spoken to the woman then he’d almost suspect that he imagined that look.

Suddenly Zoro’s phone rings and he quickly snags it out of his pocket, his expression turning worried.

“Smoker?” He asks with a frown. Sanji’s mind scrambles, that name’s familiar. Wait… Smoker as in Captain Smoker of the MARINES?! What the hell is Zoro doing answering calls from that guy? Confounded he listens in with hope of figuring out what Zoro’s doing talking to Smoker of all people.

“You found him? So he’s- …yes. I understand. I’ll be by tomorrow, his mother will want to know. I just- yeah, I’ve got a bit of a problem though. It’s Sanji, he’s… well, it’s complicated but I can’t leave him alone. I’ll have to find someone, I’ll let you know when I’ll be by.” Zoro sighs and rubs his forehead before scratching at his hairline from stress again.

“Shit.” Zoro mutters to himself and puts the phone back in his pocket.

“Usopp, I’ve got some work I need to do tomorrow for a while. Could you watch Sanji for me? Chopper said not to leave him alone.” Zoro asks with a sigh.

“Who, me?” Usopp asks wide eyed around a mouthful of burger. Sanji feels himself wince at Usopp’s horrible manners and is surprised to see Zoro actually do the same.

“I can’t watch him, I’m shooting tomorrow. You know that.” Usopp answers after swallowing his burger hastily.

“Oh crap, I forgot, the thing with Franky and Ace. Ah, Brook, how about you?” Zoro asks hopefully as he looks up at the musician.

“I’m afraid not Zoro. I’m working tomorrow during the day and you know how strict they are about letting non members of staff in the restricted areas, I nearly lost my job when I gave all of you the tour before.” Brook apologises and slides his sunglasses back up his nose.

“And I’m working as well Zoro, you need to find someone to watch Sanji, he can’t be left alone.” Chopper pipes up. Sanji feels himself bristle at his assumed enfeebled state and the lack of consideration everyone’s giving to his opinion.

“Hey! I’m not some kid that needs watching you know, and you can’t just pass me around everyone like that!” He protests loudly and kicks Zoro in the shin for good measure.

“You heard Chopper, you can’t be left alone. What if you had some kind of relapse and I came home to find you with your brains dribbling out of your ears or something?! You’re being watched and that’s the end of it!” Zoro snaps back and jabs his fork in Sanji’s direction to emphasise his point.

“Well, can’t you just get Zeff to watch him? I’m sure the old man wouldn’t mind.” Usopp says thoughtfully and picks idly at his salad.

“Chopper said he’s not allowed to work either.” Zoro says dismissively, his brow furrowed with thought.

“He doesn’t have to work, he can be here and not… work. Okay, yeah never mind, that was dumb. Sanji can’t be in a kitchen without helping out. Well what’re you going to do?” Usopp sighs frustratedly.

With a small cough Nami finishes dabbing gently at her mouth with a napkin before looking up at them all. It occurs to Sanji that she’s not spoken in this whole time and Zoro’s not talked to her at all either.

“I’m free tomorrow.” She states airily.

Sanji watches with interest as everyone around the table freezes and tense eyes lock onto Zoro and Nami who seem to have taken up a staring contest. Zoro’s face is taking on a dark expression and his glare at Nami is fierce.

“There’s nothing I’d rather do less than that.” Zoro growls, his fist tightening on the table cloth.

“Hm, yes. But you have no other options do you? Not with everyone else otherwise engaged or out of the country. Unless you’d rather leave Sanji on his own.” Nami sates in a tone that is both silky smooth and dangerous. Zoro breaks eye contact at that and Nami smiles triumphantly. Zoro gives him a pained look tinged with worry and Sanji finds himself suddenly disarmed at Zoro’s expression.

“It seems that there is something you’d rather do less than leave him with me. I’d be happy to watch him Zoro, he is my friend after all. But with that attitude I’m not sure I’m so inclined to watch him.” Nami says airily and casually inspects her nails.

“Bitch.” Zoro growls quietly through gritted teeth, his knuckles turning white from his tightly clenched fists.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Nami asks innocently, cupping a hand to her ear as if she hadn’t heard Zoro.

“Please. Watch him for me. I’d be… grateful.” Zoro grits out, as if the words had to be forcibly dragged out from within him.

“Well of course Zoro. I’ll be there tomorrow.” Nami purrs and raises her wine glass to her lips. Zoro mutters something about needing a drink and abruptly gets up from the table, his face like a storm cloud.

Bewildered Sanji looks from worried face to worried face and finds himself puzzled by Nami’s self satisfied look and at Zoro’s apparently baseless anger. It’s almost a shock, Zoro’s been so nice to everyone else, especially to Robin over the phone, but even the Zoro he knows is never that unpleasant to Nami. The swordsman and the navigator don’t get on at the best of times, mainly due to their conflicting and loud personalities but Sanji’s not oblivious to Nami’s extortion trying Zoro’s temper. Even so Zoro’s never looked at Nami like he wanted her dead before, it’s so out of character for him, and Nami didn’t seem surprised by Zoro’s outrageous behaviour towards her either.

“What the hell was that all about?” He mutters to himself in confusion.

“You don’t remember I suppose. I wouldn’t worry about it, it’s an old fight and there’s nothing that you can do about it now. You’d make it worse by interfering actually.” Usopp answers him, apparently having caught his words. Sanji considers the fact that Usopp didn’t answer him at all really when the sharpshooter speaks again.

“I suppose this must be very strange for you, it must seem like you’ve woken up in a whole new world.” Usopp muses.

“I have. This isn’t my world, you just all seem to think it is.” Sanji corrects him irritably. He’s not going to be convinced that his life wasn’t real, no matter what anyone else says.

“But… it is a little disorientating being here. Some things are so similar and others are so… different.” Sanji concedes as he glances over his shoulder to see Zoro leaning broodingly against the bar with several tellingly empty glasses next to him already.

“I just don’t understand how I ended up with that. I get that you wake up in a whole new world and things are different but the two of us suddenly being gay isn’t exactly a change I would have expected.” He snorts gesturing to the disreputable green haired man who is apparently his… his what? Significant other? Boyfriend? Lover? Partner? He’s brought back to reality though when Usopp snorts with laughter into his own wine glass.

“Hahah, that’d be funny if either of you was gay.” Usopp chuckles to himself.

Sanji feels a sense of horror creep down his neck. Did Usopp not know? Did their nakama not know about them? Has he somehow accidentally just outed both himself and Zoro?

“We’re… we’re living together Usopp and there’s, well, there’s only one bed.” He says trying to break the news gently. He’s not sure that he wants to ruin Usopp’s image of him, but the sharpshooter’s going to find out sooner or later.

“Hah! I know that dummy! But neither of you is gay.” Usopp giggles to himself.

Sanji blinks in puzzlement. Well now he’s just plain confused. Usopp looks over to him and in seeing Sanji’s confused expression he seems to become confused himself.

“You don’t remember that either? You’re not gay, you’re… well, you’re attracted to men, women… especially attractive trees, anything really. And Zoro, well. There’s not a word for what Zoro is.” Usopp says slowly.

“What do you mean?” Sanji frowns, waving aside Usopp’s barely concealed insult about him and his inclinations.

“Well he is, was… or still is, I don’t know. Anyway, he was asexual. Which means he’s not attracted to anyone. When I met him and Luffy explained to me that Zoro wasn’t interested in anyone ever I didn’t buy it either. But it’s true, the most attractive people in the world could just walk by him unnoticed, it’s like he just doesn’t get it.” Usopp continues.

“But…” Sanji starts to protest. It can’t be that Zoro’s not attracted to anyone, the two of them share a bed and he’s caught Zoro looking at him with something that might almost be described as tenderness so surely Zoro’s attracted to him.

“Yeah, I know. I’d finally got used to the idea that Zoro just wasn’t interested in anyone or anything like that when you showed up. I actually saw his face when he saw you for the first time. It was just like, BAM.” Usopp laughs smacking his fist against his palm.

“It was kind of funny watching a grown man get dragged through all those agonising years of being a teenager and figuring out that other people are hot and actually sex is pretty awesome in like, three seconds. Apparently you’re the only person in the world so far that does it for him.” Usopp explains with a nostalgic grin.

“No way Usopp, that’s not funny.” Sanji glowers. He can’t believe that Usopp would lie to him at a time like this when he doesn’t understand anything about this world, what if he’d actually believed Usopp then?

“It’s true Sanji, it’s pretty unbelievable but it’s true. It’s very interesting actually, I’ve asked Zoro if he’ll let me look at his brain in the scanner to find out why he’s the way he is but he won’t let me.” Chopper pouts unhappily. Next to him Brook makes a noise of agreement around his glass of wine.

Sanji realises distantly that his jaw is hanging open. It… it can’t be true, surely? He’s not an especially modest man but there’s no way that he’s the most attractive guy on the planet and Zoro just has impossibly high standards. And there’s no way that a person can just be attracted to one other person in the whole world, it’s just not right.

“Mm, come on. We have to go.” Zoro murmurs, suddenly at his shoulder with warm rum-hued breath at his ear. Sanji jumps, he didn’t even see Zoro walk over to him. Zoro doesn’t look drunk but he does look a little more relaxed than before, softer around the edges perhaps. He bids their friends goodnight, they clearly intend to stay for a while, Brook’s already made his way over to the piano and Nami is ordering a fresh bottle of wine.

He follows Zoro out onto the cold street with Usopp’s words rolling around in his brain. He and Zoro were never a possibility before because the man was so irritating to him, but it seemed that here in this world Zoro was different. Zoro didn’t seem to feel the need to fight him at every turn for no reason, he didn’t seem to try and keep himself separate from everyone or keep such a tight check on his body language, this Zoro was… nice. Not just nice in the sense of being pleasant to people, although with the exception of Nami he was that too, but he was nice to be around. He could tell that Zoro was still Zoro in a very real sense, he’d bet that if you were to test this Zoro’s loyalty or his bravery you wouldn’t find him wanting in comparison to the Zoro that Sanji knew. But some intangible thing was different, and that seemed to affect all the things that usually irritated the hell out of Sanji. He wishes like hell that he knew what that thing is because it’s causing some real problems. Because before he’d written Zoro off completely, but now… well, now Sanji was able to look at Zoro without that red haze of annoyance surrounding him. And he didn’t look half bad.

But Usopp’s words were weighing in his mind like the lead shot that the sharpshooter was so fond of. The part about Zoro being disinterested in sex with anyone made sense, and in fact with a little thought he’d say it matched with the Zoro that he knew. But the other part? The part about Zoro only being interested in him? He didn’t know what to make of it other than to think that it couldn’t be right.

“Hey, Usopp was telling me about you.” He says suddenly, his hand grabbing a fistful of the back of Zoro’s coat. The other man turns and regards him quizzically.

“About you and me, I mean.” He adds and Zoro’s expression changes to a careful wariness that Sanji’s more used to seeing on the Zoro he knows than this one.

“Yes?” Zoro prompts carefully.

“He said that… that you were only attracted to me. That can’t be right, right?” He asks worried that Usopp really was lying to him and got everyone else to play along as well. Zoro suddenly bursting into laughter doesn’t help his suspicions. Zoro’s full rich laughter is going on to the point of causing a heat of embarrassment to flare on Sanji’s cheeks, as if the idea was that ridiculous.

“Oh god, we’re going to have to have this stupid conversation again aren’t we? I hated it enough the first time!” Zoro laughs, slumping against the wall next to him.

“That’s not an answer moss-head.” Sanji growls irritably. He doesn’t like being made to feel like a fool, especially not by Zoro of all people.

“Yes, Usopp was telling the truth, for once. It’s just you, and no I don’t know why. And if this is like last time this is the bit where you don’t believe me.” Zoro says with a wry smile.

“Good call, because I don’t.” Sanji responds and folds his arms defiantly. There’s just no way that he could be the only person in the world to get Zoro going, not that he can even imagine Zoro looking turned on at all.

“Well I don’t know how to convince you, so you’re just gonna have to take my word for it.” Zoro shrugs.

Sanji is about to give up as well when he spots a glowing sign about ten meters away, it’s a shop. And where there’s a shop… He dashes forward and grabs Zoro’s arm as he runs past, dragging him towards and into the building. Zoro’s startled yelps ring in his ears as he darts into the shop startling the cashier as he runs past with Zoro stumbling after him. He runs past food, frozen goods, booze and- BINGO! He skids to a halt in front of a rack of magazines and ignores Zoro’s protests about being dragged around as he scans the covers of the magazines. Finding a suitable one he plucks it from the shelf, opens it at an appropriate page and turns to Zoro.

Zoro’s eyes fix on the magazine pages for a moment with confusion. After a few seconds and a glance back up at Sanji’s expectant face his expression turns to irritation.

“Really? This is your solution? Showing me semi-pornographic magazines?” Zoro drawls looking clearly unimpressed.

“Shut up and look at the magazine marimo.” Sanji orders, tapping a finger on the open page. Zoro rolls his eyes and huffs in irritation but obligingly returns his eyes to the magazine. He looks bored and entirely disinterested.

Hm, no luck. Sanji turns the magazine back around and flicks through a few pages to a woman in an impossibly tiny bikini sprawled in the sand. Ignoring the watering of his own mouth he turns it around and shows it to Zoro, Zoro’s face continues to show only apathy without even the slightest spark of attraction. With an irritated growl Sanji tries a few more pages with no reaction from Zoro.

Defeated he replaces the magazine on the shelf and having accepted losing the battle but not the war he grabs another magazine with a half naked man on the front. He flicks to a promising looking page and holds the page up and watches Zoro’s reaction. The man is completely blank aside from the hint that his patience is wearing thin. Irritably he flicks a few more pages unseeingly until a large expanse of skin tone makes him turn the page around to Zoro.

This time he spots something. Zoro’s eyes sharpen and his expression brightens with interest, his head tilts slightly as if contemplating what he sees.

“Ah-hah! I knew Usopp was wrong!” Sanji crows and turns the magazine back to himself to look at the picture. Looking back up at him is an attractively built guy with dark hair in his eyes lying suggestively across a… motorbike. Warily he looks back up at Zoro and traces the man’s eye line.

“You’re just ogling the bike aren’t you?” He asks irritatedly.

“It’s a really nice bike, really rare actually, especially with the original fairings. That must cost a fortune.” Zoro chirps happily.

With a frustrated growl Sanji whacks Zoro over the head with the magazine and stuffs it back in the shelf. He can’t believe that a number of gorgeous models who, Sanji isn’t ashamed to admit, are more attractive than he is, were unable to provoke so much as a flutter of interest in the marimo.

Still… that doesn’t quite prove Usopp’s words.

With his eyes carefully locked on Zoro’s face he pulls his top off in one smooth movement and takes one large step into Zoro’s personal space. Zoro’s pupils suddenly blow massively wide and though his face is showing surprise he can’t miss the flush that’s sprung up on the man’s cheeks. He hears the hitch in Zoro’s breath and he’d bet his best kitchen knives that Zoro’s heart rate just leapt massively. Now that was the reaction that he was looking for. And yet… it was only from him.

“For the love of- put that back on! Stop fucking stripping in the corner shop!” Zoro hisses, his face going redder as he tries to force Sanji back into his clothes.

Sanji obliges but can’t help himself from laughing. This whole situation is beyond ridiculous, and Zoro’s blatant embarrassment as they leave the shop under the suspicious eyes of the cashier is only making it worse. Still giggling he follows Zoro out into the night and back home.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning Sanji is a little bit disappointed but not surprised to find himself waking up in the same room that he did yesterday, which is to say, not the men’s bunkroom on the Sunny. It’d be nice if he woke up to find everything back how it should be but his life has never been easy like that.

The double bed is pretty big when he’s in it alone and a great deal comfier than his hammock on the Sunny. Zoro had refused to sleep in the same bed as him once he caught Sanji’s admittedly nervous look on the idea. He said that if Sanji couldn’t remember them sleeping next to each other before then he wasn’t going to force him to, and plus he was sick. That of course had prompted an argument about how as long as Zoro kept his hands to himself Sanji had no problem with sleeping in the same bed, and he wasn’t sick, asshole! That fight had ended up with Zoro taking blankets from the cupboard and refusing to sleep in the same bed as Sanji no matter what he said, Sanji wasn’t sure if it was Zoro being stubborn or Zoro sleeping on the couch like a couple that had endured a spat before bed.

Reluctantly he slides out of the warm comfy bed and pads into the main room of the flat. A bare foot hanging over the arm of the sofa is Sanji’s only hint from the angle that he’s at that Zoro’s still asleep. Quietly he walks over to the sofa and takes a good look at Zoro.

The man is sprawled uncomfortably across the slightly too small to sleep on sofa, the blanket has half fallen off of him in the night and the dark circles under Zoro’s eyes suggest that he’s not slept all that well. In fact the swordsman’s brow is furrowed even in his sleep and the low whine that escapes from his throat every so often suggests that he’s having a distressing dream. Sanji feels a little bad for the man, his lover has suddenly forgotten him almost entirely for no apparent reason and there doesn’t seem to be any obvious cure, for all Zoro knows he’s lost him forever. Sympathetically he reaches down and brushes his fingers across Zoro’s forehead. A small sigh falls from Zoro’s lips and his body seems to relax. Sanji hears a mumble from Zoro that could easily be his name and the green haired swordsman rolls over and seems to settle deeply into sleep.

At a loss for anything else to do Sanji decides to investigate the kitchen in this place with a view to perhaps rustling up some breakfast. On closer inspection Sanji decides that he likes this kitchen very much, the cupboards are very well stocked with an array of ingredients and a selection of spices so broad that Sanji would have happily paid through the nose for to get on the Sunny. The equipment too is superb, the knives are excellent quality and perfectly balanced, the stove is stunningly strong and evenly heated. The fridge too proves to be wonderfully stocked with fresh strawberries and large glossy eggs.

He has barely finished making the first pancake when he hears Zoro stirring into wakefulness. A familiar groan reaches his ears, it's as familiar as anything, he's heard it every day for six months whenever Zoro awakes. It's an unpleasant and almost irritated groan as if the world itself is offensive to Zoro's freshly awakened mind. He carefully takes the hot frying pan off of the heat and turns to face the back of the sofa. Unsteadily Zoro drags himself up into a sitting position and blinks blearily at the world. He turns to catch sight of Sanji and his widened eyes fill with such obvious hope and desperation that it breaks Sanji's heart a little to see it.

"Sorry, I still don't have the memories that you think I should." He says quickly, unable to watch Zoro's painfully hopeful expression any longer.

Zoro looks pitiably crestfallen at that news but his eyes still glimmer with a hint of hope as he speaks,

"Has anything come back though? Even just a little detail?" he asks hopefully.

"Not that I can tell, but perhaps, who knows?" he answers hedgingly, unwilling to completely crush Zoro's hope. Still Zoro looks pretty disheartened by that news so Sanji speaks up again uncomfortably.

"Would you like some pancakes? I'm making some and they always cheer me up." he offers. Zoro's expression lifts a little at that and he hauls himself off of the sofa and pads over to the kitchen counter with a small smile.

"Your pancakes could cheer up a suicidal man, so they ought to do something for me." Zoro chuckles and seats himself.

Sanji is distantly aware that his mouth is hanging slack. Zoro never compliments his food, not without an insult anyway, like 'this is better than that crap soup you gave us yesterday'. If he's not feeling argumentative he'll simply stay silent and the closest Sanji gets to an actual compliment is a grunt and an empty plate held out for seconds. But this? This is new.

"What's that dumbass look for?" Zoro asks, apparently having caught Sanji's dumbstruck expression.

"You just said something nice about my cooking, you never say anything nice about my cooking!" he says almost accusatorially.

"What? I always tell you when I like your food, you're the best cook that I know." Zoro blinks looking puzzled. Sanji continues staring at this man who looks like Zoro but surely can’t be, not from his words, Zoro never treats him like this.

"Hah, in fact I'd be screwed if you ever left me. You've spoilt my tastebuds so much that everything else would taste awful in comparison." Zoro laughs slightly.

Sanji's not even sure what the appropriate reply to that kind of statement is. He supposes that he should thank Zoro for such flattery but the fact that it's Zoro who said it just confuses matters. Sanji can't help but be unnerved at this man who looks just like Zoro and sounds just like Zoro but who can at times say things that, were it not for the fact that he could see the man before him, he he'd doubt that Zoro was the one who said it at all.

His capacity for logical thought isn't helped when Zoro, completely oblivious to Sanji's shock, starts eating the strawberries in a manner that messes with Sanji's blood pressure and makes him stare at the oblivious man. With few other options he turns back to the stovetop and continues with cooking pancakes, if only to ignore the obvious burn in his cheeks.

Sanji tries to shake himself mentally and remind himself that this is Zoro of all people that’s doing this to him. And when Zoro looks like an attractive proposition something must clearly be wrong with him. But… it’s not him that’s got something wrong with him is it? It’s this world. This world is wrong and this Zoro is wrong. That isn’t to say that this Zoro is bad by any rate, in fact he seems to be quite- no. No, he’s not going to start thinking like that. This Zoro isn’t real, this world can’t be real. It’s all just some hallucination from that lotus, or some kind of fake wish to test if he’s worthy for his real wish, or perhaps he’s just gone mad and he’s dreaming. What’s important is that he can’t forget that this Zoro isn’t real.

Still… this world is pretty detailed for a hallucination or a dream. Some things don’t seem to make sense, like where Luffy and Robin are, or why Nami and Zoro seem to hate each other so much and what exactly it is Zoro’s doing today that involves Smoker. The mysteries seem to be piling up instead of resolving themselves. Well, Sanji thinks as he flips a pancake, he’s going to do something about that. He may as well start at the beginning.

“Where are Robin and Luffy?” Sanji demands suddenly of Zoro as he turns back around with a few hot freshly cooked pancakes. Zoro seems a little startled at the suddenness of the question but he shrugs and checks his watch, he must have worn that in his sleep, another un-Zoro like thing to do.

“Right about now… they’re probably over the Atlantic. They got their connecting flight this morning so… yeah.” Zoro answers after what appears to be a little bit of mental calculation. Sanji narrows his eyes, feeling unsatisfied with Zoro’s confusing answer.

“What’s the Atlantic? And where have they been? And how are they flying?” He presses.

“It’s an ocean. They’ve been in some archaeology thing in the Amazon rainforest for about two weeks now and they’re flying home in a plane obviously.” Zoro answers with a roll of his eyes. Sanji considers this answer, he doesn’t know the place names although he thinks that he’s heard of an island called Amazon Lilly before, he’s heard it’s populated by beautiful women desperate for men. Still, that’s in his world, the real world that he needs to get back to if he’s ever to go to the real Amazon Lilly. That said, Zoro’s answer didn’t entirely explain things.

“What’s a plane?” He asks curiously. Zoro gives him that look again, the look that suggests that he’s some sort of brain dead idiot. He swallows the pancakes that Sanji had put down earlier before he answers.

“It’s a thing that flies through the- never mind. This is getting crazy, I’m not explaining how planes work to you.” Zoro says exasperatedly and stands up. He brushes gently past Sanji and puts his plate in the sink, yet another thing to add to the rapidly growing list of un-Zoro like behaviour.

“I have another question you know.” Sanji states as Zoro leaves the kitchen and heads towards the bedroom.

“It can wait, I need to get dressed.” Zoro calls and disappears into the bedroom. Sanji falters in the kitchen, he could follow Zoro into the bedroom and demand more answers to the mysteries that he’s been contemplating lately, but doing so would likely mean seeing Zoro naked. And… well, it’s not as if he’s not seen that before he and Zoro have lived together on two not exactly private ships for six months. But this Zoro is different and having unforeseen effects on him, he’s not sure he wants to risk getting an eyeful of a Zoro that acts polite, caring and genuine as opposed to rude and irritating. He hesitates and decides that it can wait and goes back to cooking his own breakfast since Zoro ate all the pancakes that he made before they started talking.

He’s halfway through his own pancakes and strawberries when Zoro re-emerges from the bedroom dressed in black trousers and a smart white shirt. The man is currently in the process of knotting his tie, a distraction Sanji’s glad for because it gives him time to school his face into something that’s not outright shock. He’s seen Zoro dressed smartly perhaps only once or twice since he’s known him, and even then it was somewhat grudgingly. He looks up at Sanji, his black eyes bright and interested as if Sanji is the only thing worth looking at in the world.

“You said you wanted to ask something?” Zoro prompts as he straightens his tie in the reflection on the fridge door.

“I- ah, yes. Why do you and Nami-” He begins but it interrupted by the doorbell ringing.

“Speak of the devil.” Zoro mutters, his expression souring considerably. He stomps over to the front door and opens it, revealing Nami leaning casually against the frame.

“I’m so pleased to see you didn’t get hit by a bus or anything on your way over.” Zoro growls and stomps back to Sanji.

“Charming as ever Zoro.” Nami huffs, rolling her eyes. She’s dressed rather prettily today Sanji has to admit, she’s in a blue corduroy dress with white leggings and a white top on underneath, around her neck is perhaps the brightest knitted yellow scarf that he’s ever seen complete with a matching soft-looking hat. Her entire look is serene and sunny, and despite Zoro’s sub-zero level of warmth towards her, her expression is sunny as well.

“Sanji, you look well. Feeling any different today?” Nami chirps happily at him and makes her way over to the seat next to him and hops up on it daintily.

“I feel the same as yesterday, thank you for asking. I apologise for Zoro’s completely irrational shitty behaviour, I’ve no idea why he’s acting like this.” Sanji apologises earnestly, feeling incredibly distressed that Zoro would treat her so nastily for no apparent reason.

“Don’t you know how to be nice to a lady, you asshole?” Sanji accuses, looking over his shoulder at a scowling Zoro.

“Sure I do, but she’s no lady.” Zoro says practically spitting the words out as he continues glaring at Nami.

“Don’t you have somewhere to be? Or don’t you need me here today?” Nami says tightly and levels Zoro a hard look. Zoro’s fists clench at this, he’s clearly not pleased at the fact that he needs Nami to do him a favour in looking after Sanji. Zoro looks at him and his expression changes from the harsh anger that Nami evoked to something small and almost scared, Zoro’s hand lands on his arm.

“Please just… don’t. Please.” Zoro pleads quietly as he squeezes Sanji’s arm.

“Don’t what?” Sanji asks incredibly confused. He doesn’t understand what’s going on between Nami and Zoro, or what it is that Zoro suddenly looks almost terrified about. But Zoro lets him go and steps back squeezing his eyes shut and letting a shaky breath out.

“Go on, you’re going to be late aren’t you? I’ll look after him, I promise.” Nami urges softly. Zoro nods and shoots Sanji one last reluctant look before leaving the flat and shutting the door behind him.

“What was that all about?” Sanji mutters staring at the door that Zoro just left through in total confusion.

“Hm, you really don’t remember a thing do you? You don’t even really remember him either do you?” Nami muses, clearly intrigued.

“Sure I remember him, it’s just my memories don’t match up to this world.” Sanji shrugs and turns back to what’s left of his breakfast. He realises with a start that’s he’s not offered Nami anything since she walked in, he’s been almost as rude as Zoro!

“Ah! Do you want anything? I can make more pancakes, or coffee, or anything.” He says hastily causing Nami to break into a warm smile.

“I’m just fine Sanji, I ate before I came here. You just finish up and tell me what you do remember, tell me what the Zoro that you remember is like.” Nami says smiling gently, her curiosity showing clearly in her eyes.

“He’s kind of a difficult man to describe fairly.” Sanji answers honestly. He stares at his plate and tries to put into words what Zoro is really like, the man genuinely baffles him a lot of the time so it’s not easy.

“It’s like… he’s two people. He’s obsessed with becoming the world’s greatest swordsman, it’s his dream and he’s constantly working towards it, like nothing else matters. Then when he’s not doing that he’s being lazy and irritating, he starts fights with me for no reason, he’s rude to people, you and Robin especially although nothing like this morning. I’ve never seen him act to you like he did this morning or last night, he’s rude but I’ve never seen him be really nasty like that.” Sanji answers with a frown.

“Why is he so nasty to you? I know you and he don’t get on great anyway but I don’t think that even he would act like that for no reason.” Sanji questions watching Nami intently. She seems to shift uncomfortably at the question and breaks eye contact with him to stare at her boots.

“It’s… I’d rather not explain right now. I’m not sure you’d understand without your memories. Tell me more about what you do remember about your Zoro.” Nami answers smoothly changing topic. Sanji isn’t pleased with the conversational slight-of-hand but he figures that perhaps if he answers her then she’ll give him a real answer later, so he continues.

“Sometimes he’s like I said, but then it’s like he’s someone else half of the time. I mean, you can always rely on him when things get tough and I know that he’s got my back no matter what. And it’s crazy because his dream to be the greatest means so much to him but when we were on Thriller Bark, that was this really big dangerous battle a little while ago, he tried to offer up his life in exchange for ours to this person who could have killed us all. He knew that it’d kill him, that he’d never achieve his dream, but he did it anyway. It’s like he’s almost this other person, he puts up with Luffy’s insane ideas, he treats Chopper like a little brother, he lets Usopp tell him lies because it makes him happy. Not that he’s ever like that with me, all I ever get is the irritating and rude Zoro, I don’t understand him. And suddenly I wake up here and it’s like he’s that other person all the time, except for when he’s talking to you and then he’s worse than ever.” Sanji explains quietly.

If he’s honest with himself, really honest, part of what irks him is that Zoro is never that other person with him. With him if Zoro’s not being irritating he’s just being quiet, he never experiences Zoro’s pleasant side first hand. And it irritates him because it hurts a little, he doesn’t know what he’s done to deserve being excluded from that side of him. And yet here Zoro is real with him, and he suspects that the nice and gentle side of Zoro is who he really is, that the hard side of him is something that he’s made to defend himself, though from what Sanji can’t guess. And he doesn’t know why Zoro feels the need to use that manufacture shield against him all of the time, but he’d be lying if he didn’t admit to himself that it’s more than pleasant seeing the genuine Zoro underneath in this world.

“I’m going to take a stab in the dark here and say that in your memories, or in your world, that you and Zoro aren’t together.” Nami says giving him a sidelong glance.

“Nope. Not even a little bit.” He snorts. The idea is a little ridiculous actually, especially considering how Zoro usually treats him.

“Thought so, it’s kind of obvious. I thought something between you two wasn’t right last night, you were treating him more like someone you knew rather than someone that you were in love with, which is probably why Zoro is pissier than usual with me this morning.” Nami muses thoughtfully.

“Why with you? It’s not like you did this to me, he’s being irrational.” Sanji points out logically.

“Yeah, but there’s no one that he can be angry with is there? The man he loves has forgotten him almost entirely and he can’t be mad at you because you didn’t do this to yourself, and he can’t go out there and take revenge on someone because no one else did it to you, so he’s just angry in general because it’s a sucky thing to have happen.” Nami sighs sympathetically.

Sanji watches Nami carefully, the more he talks to her the more he’s realising that this hatred between Nami and Zoro seems pretty asymmetric. Nami isn’t fond of Zoro and clearly doesn’t appreciate the way he talks to her but she’s just letting it go for some reason, and she’s still talking about Zoro as if he’s some nice guy. Zoro on the other hand seems to hate her fiercely.

“Why does Zoro hate you? Will you give me a real answer please?” He asks, looking at her with his head in his hand over his now empty breakfast plate. Nami seems unhappy about being asked this again but Sanji needs to know, has to know.

“Supposing that you did something bad, that you made a mistake, a pretty awful one but just the one mistake. Fair enough that you be held accountable for that, but… suppose that your mistake had the effect of making someone else repeat that same mistake over and over again, should the fact that you started them on that bad path be your fault? Do you think it’s fair that you should be blamed for that?” Nami asks in a voice that is quiet enough and sombre enough almost to sound like a religious confession.

“So you mean… you did something bad? And someone else copied you almost?” Sanji frowns feeling like he’s distinctly not getting it.

“Sort of.” She answers and picks idly at the hem of her dress.

“So I take it from Zoro’s irritation that the person that picked up this bad habit or whatever from you was either me or him.” He says trying to get this vague idea straight in his head.

“Hah, it wouldn’t be Zoro. It was you, which is why he’s so angry at me. But do you think that your stupid behaviour should be considered my fault?” Nami presses urgently, her eyes wide with something akin to hope. Sanji wonders how long she’s worried over this and if this is the first time since whatever this was happened that she’s actually been able to ask him about what he thinks. Without his memories he supposes he’s the perfect impartial judge.

“Just tell me what it was that happened Nami, if I was the one who did it then I’m sure I can handle hearing about it. Then I’ll tell you if I think it was your fault or not.” Sanji presses, he knows it’s un-gentlemanly to hold information like that from a lovely lady such as Nami, but he wants someone around here to give him a straight answer for once.

Nami looks ill at ease, as if she can’t quite bear to speak the words aloud. She starts to talk a few times but abortively cuts herself short, she’s clearly uncertain of how to explain herself properly. Sanji knows that he should offer to drop the topic since it’s making such a lovely flower so unhappy, but he’s not in the mood to do that right now.

“With relationships… when they don’t work, or when you can’t handle a person you can just break up with them right? You can think, ‘hey there’s plenty more fish in the sea for both of us’ and you can know that if they’re not right for you and you’re not right for them you can just call it quits and you can both move on.” She finally begins.

“Yeah…” Sanji agrees not understanding where this is going. He’s had relationships like that before, where something’s not felt right but he’s felt no ill will towards the person and hopes that she feels happy with someone else.

“Well, with you there are loads more fish in the sea. Hell, with your talents in cooking and your insistence on treating every lady like a princess you could get almost anyone you want! You’ve got a whole darn ocean to play with!” Nami laughs merrily.

“Ah, you flatter me Nami!” Sanji laughs feeling almost as bashful as Chopper gets. Embarrassingly he’s not too far off of wiggling around like the little reindeer is so apt to do. Nami’s face falls suddenly though and she continues her story in a more sombre tone.

“With Zoro though… there aren’t any other fish in the sea. He’s not even in the sea, it’s a goddamn fishbowl. If you and Zoro don’t work out then he’s screwed, there’s no one else that he can be with like he is with you. You’re literally his only chance for a happy relationship. People think it sounds all romantic when they hear about the two of you, that you’re the only one for him, but it’s not happy or sweet, it’s insane. No one should have to deal with the pressure of being someone’s only chance like that.” Nami says insistently, her face passionate.

Sanji’s eyes widen, he’d not thought about it like that. He’d thought that it was odd if not impossible for him to be the only person that Zoro was attracted to, but he’d not thought about the implications of that. He’d always imagined himself one day with a pretty wife and perhaps a few little kids to teach how to cook, perhaps back at the Baratie, perhaps on a ship of his own on All Blue. And whenever he’d been with a lady and things hadn’t worked out for one reason or another it’d been clear to him that she just wasn’t that eventual woman who’d be his very non-specific wife in that imagined future. Did this Zoro have dream like that? Did he dream of the two of them living together happily and going grey together? If he did then Sanji was his only shot at that, if the two of them didn’t work out then it really was the end of that future for Zoro, it was impossible then. That was a lot to deal with.

“That’s… I’d not really thought of it like that. But I see what you mean.” Sanji answers with a frown. He can’t imagine how crushing that weight of being Zoro’s only real chance could be.

“Yeah, well it took you a while to realise just how high the stakes were when you and Zoro first started dating. The two of you had been seeing each other for a little over a year and it was just starting to get serious, then I guess you kind of realised what’d happen to Zoro if you messed up. You freaked out, it’s too much pressure on one person. It wasn’t fair to you. I always thought Zoro was asking too much of you, putting you under too much pressure to be perfect. It wasn’t really his fault and I guess it sucks for him too, but… it’s not fair.” Nami frowns, her irritation at the unfairness of Sanji’s situation reading loud and clear through her body language.

“So as I said, you panicked. You came to me to try and talk it out and… well, there was lots of alcohol and… well. One thing led to another and we slept together. I guess some part you thought that things with Zoro were going to get ruined one way or the other, so you’d ruin them on your own terms.” Nami explains with a hand tangled tensely in her hair. Her face is filled with obvious regret but part of her looks defiant, as if she won’t be made to feel bad about what she just said.

The implications of what Nami has just said are still sliding through Sanji’s brain. He’s never cheated on anyone in his life, but he supposes that saying so to Nami would sound stupid and childish because in this world apparently he had. He’d been worried about hurting Zoro and so he’d decided that the best solution to that was to hurt Zoro? That was incredibly dumb and actually pretty cruel. He recalls Zoro’s rage at Nami, his anxiety about leaving the two of them alone together. Zoro really was scared, scared that he’d sleep with Nami again whilst he was away. So Zoro must have found out about that night? But when and how?

“How did Zoro find out?” he asks, feeling fairly certain that he won’t like the answer. Nami’s eyes are distant as she answers, as if she’s playing out the scene in her mind and Sanji guesses she’s played it over a lot from the guilty look on her face.

“He’d been worried about you, you’d been acting off lately because the pressure of your relationship had been getting to you. You didn’t live together then, but you had keys to each other’s places. He came over in the morning, to talk to you I suppose. There’s only so much explaining either of us could do when Zoro found us naked and asleep in your bed.” She says almost whisper quiet.

Sanji can’t stop his brain from imagining the scene, himself and Nami curled together in his bed and suddenly Zoro at the open bedroom door. His face would be soft at first, like the Zoro he’s seen since he woke up here, but then Zoro’s mind would catch up to what his eyes were seeing. Then Zoro’s expression would be all pain and betrayal, and if the way Zoro looked at him now held true for then, probably heartbreak too. He can’t imagine what he’d say, how do you apologise for something like that? Poor Zoro. But… a thought is still catching in his brain.

“So, what do you mean about a bad habit?” He frowns, surely he didn’t keep sleeping with Nami behind Zoro’s back? That would be disrespectful to everyone involved, a betrayal to both Nami and Zoro.

“I don’t mean with me, you and I never slept together again. I regretted it too much, Zoro was my friend too after all, I felt terrible for hurting him like that. But… well, sleeping with me didn’t solve the problem of you being Zoro’s only chance for happiness did it? After that whenever the pressure would get too much you’d go out and get someone else into bed with you, some girl that you didn’t know.” Nami explains with a sigh. Sanji is wide eyed and horrified, he can’t imagine betraying someone like that over and over again, much less Zoro. What had he been thinking? How could he live with himself? Much to his regret Nami keeps on talking, though he’s long stopped wanting to hear these terrible things about himself.

“It kept happening and Zoro kept taking you back afterwards because, well, I don’t know why. Because he loves you I suppose, or perhaps because he knows as well that you’re his only chance. He held me responsible for starting it all, he still holds me responsible. Every time it’d happen Zoro would hate me more, as you can see he hates me an awful lot.” She laughs hollowly.

"This just proves that this can't be my world, I'd never treat someone like that. I'm not like that Nami, honest." he insists desperately to her, he needs her to believe him. He can hardly believe such a thing to be true, but he knows that Nami wouldn't lie to him and it explains so much about Zoro's anger towards Nami.

"People do stupid things when they're in love, even if it sounds a bit counter-intuitive I know you do love him. And if it's any consolation you've not done it for a year or two, I guess you got whatever it was out of your system." Nami says soothingly and pats his arm.

"Or I got better at not getting caught." he mutters bitterly, staring down at his empty plate. What if he was wrong about himself? What if he really was the kind of person who would cheat on someone and break their heart again and again just because he couldn't handle his shit? What if the only reason that he'd never acted like that before was because he'd never really been in a serious relationship before rather than from and inherent honour in him?

“So,” Nami says slowly and shoots him a wary look, “do you think that all of this is my fault?”

“No, I think that this is entirely my fault. Apparently I’m that kind of shitty person, if it hadn’t been you then it probably would have been someone else. It’s not your fault. But… I can see why Zoro might hold it against you, I guess he needs someone to blame, although why he’s not blaming me I’ve no idea.” Sanji sighs and flashes a reassuring but weak smile at the navigator.

She smiles at him silently and it’s clear that his words have lifted a weight from her shoulders. Sanji supposes that perhaps they don’t ever talk about this, perhaps she’s never got an opportunity to say sorry or to have him tell her that it wasn’t her fault. If nothing else he’s glad that he can offer her that. She looks at him quietly, as if she’s evaluating him and making some kind of decision in the back of her mind.

“Hey, I’ve got an idea for getting your memories back. I know a guy that can help.” Nami suggests with a smile.

“But… Chopper said that there’s nothing really that can be done, they’ll either come back or they won’t.” Sanji frowns feeling confused, surely Chopper would have told him and Zoro if there were other options for getting his memories back?

“Hah, well Chopper deals with conventional medicine. This guy is… not exactly conventional. But it’s worth a shot right?” Nami grins at him as she hops off of her stool.

Sanji considers this. He’s not prepared to accept that this world is reality, not at all. He knows that his world is real but… there are doubts. A small iota of worry that maybe everyone else is right and his world isn’t real. But if he is right and his world is real then there shouldn’t be any memories to get back from this place because he’s not the Sanji that lived this life. So perhaps making a real attempt to get whatever memories he might have back would solve his worry one way or the other.

“Okay, lead the way.” He smiles at her.


	6. Chapter 6

Nami ushers him outside and quickly gets them into a black car with ‘taxi’ written on a sign on the top. She asks the driver how much it’ll cost to get where they’re going, she says the name but Sanji doesn’t recognise it. The orange haired navigator seems irritated at the driver’s answer and tells him haughtily that if she can get them there for less than that and faster by directing him then the drive is free, if not she’ll pay the fare twice. The stupid driver laughs and takes Nami on with her bet. Sanji winces inside, he loves Nami dearly but he knows not to ever bet money with her because Nami never bets to lose, he also knows never to underestimate her navigational skills. These are two things that Zoro’s never learned, which is why the stupid man is always goddamn broke and in debt to the navigator.

A surprisingly short drive later they arrive where Nami wants to take him, they don’t pay any fare to the grumbling taxi driver of course, Nami’s routes are always better.

The building that they arrive outside of looks ordinary enough, outside hangs a sign with a circle painted on it in metallic paint, this gives Sanji absolutely no clue as to what’s inside but he trustingly follows Nami inside anyway. Inside is some sort of shabby-looking waiting room filled with beaten up chairs and magazines that look like they might be older than he is. Nami approaches the desk and talks to the man there in a quiet but slightly threatening voice, her face is all picturesque beauty and light though. The man at the desk has green hair, darker than Zoro’s and cut in some stupid style with two solitary curled bits by his ears, the weirdo is even wearing eyeliner.

Sanji looks around the office and finds himself a little creeped out, the entire office is decorated around the theme of cats. There’s a cat cushion on the sofa, cat posters on the walls, little cat figurines on the coffee table and the desk. There are a few other people in the office, sitting on the sofas and reading the ancient magazines.

“Just tell him that Nami is here and calling in that favour.” Nami says tersely in a steely voice.

“Fine, but he doesn’t have time to just see anyone who walks in off of the street.” The green haired man sniffs disdainfully and struts off to another door with a stupid walk.

“Are you sure about this Nami? This place looks a little…” Sanji trails off not knowing the right word for this place. Dubious? Shady? Creepy? Run down?

“It’s fine, this guy is good and he owes me.” Nami says shaking her head dismissively.

Behind the office door Sanji can just pick up a conversation between two men, one of which is the guy from the desk.

“She’s what?!” The second voice yelps in what is clearly intended to be a quiet voice.

“I told her that you didn’t have time, I’ll make her go away.” The man at the desk says with no such pretensions to quietness.

“No! God no! She’ll- quiet you idiot, she can probably hear you!” The second man hisses. Quickly this second man steps out of the office and smiles tensely at Nami.

“Ah, Nami. So good to see you, what can I do for you?” He asks with a worried twitch in his face.

Sanji stares, this guy looks freaking odd. He’s tall and skinny with ridiculous clothes on, he’s got jeans on which is normal enough, although not exactly what Sanji would call office attire, for some reason the man is wearing gloves indoors when it’s perfectly warm. But by far the most noticeable piece of clothing is his hideous shirt. It’s bright yellow with large mismatched purple splotches on, almost like a giraffe on acid, and it’s paired with a clashing deep blue tie. His face however is the oddest thing about him. The man’s features are all pinched and odd looking and his chin is adorned with this… thing. It’s stripy and freaky looking and Sanji hopes that it’s just a goatee wrapped up in something but it looks almost… organic. And it seems that the man’s awful fashion sense extends to his head as well, he’s wearing awful pink heart shaped sunglasses as well as a stupid white floppy hat on his head. All in all the man is completely bizarre looking and Sanji really hopes that this isn’t who Nami took him here to see.

“Jango, I have a friend here who needs your help. This is Sanji.” Nami says gesturing to him and crushing Sanji’s hopes that he’s not going to have to talk to the weirdo.

“I’m afraid that I’m much too busy to see this gentleman today Nami, as you can see I have clients waiting.” The man, who Sanji assumes is called Jango from Nami’s statement. Sanji has to admit that he breathes a sigh a relief that he won’t have to see this oddball.

“He has memory problems. Something which I see that you apparently share Jango.” Nami states, her voice hard and threatening. Jango’s face twitches at that and he tensely looks from Nami to the people waiting in the waiting room who are all looking at him expectantly.

“All appointments rescheduled to tomorrow. Beat it!” He yells suddenly and grabs Sanji by the arm and flings him toward the direction of the office that he just came from.

Sanji turns and shoots Nami a worried look but she ushers him towards the office. With a sigh Sanji obeys and walks morosely into the office, why is it that everyone that he meets is a total oddball? He’d thought that Zoro and Usopp with their odd appearances were weird when he met them, if he’d have known then that the two of them would seem positively ordinary on the grand line then he’s not sure he would have gone so easily. It seems that this trend is continuing in this world too, everyone he has the misfortune of meeting is bizarre.

Sanji turns around when he gets into the office to see the guy with the heart shaped glasses walking into the office backwards in some sort of creepy moonwalk. He hangs his head and curses his bad luck.

“So, what’s your problem then?” The man asks suddenly as he turns to face Sanji.

“I could ask you the same thing.” Sanji glowers, he doesn’t like this man’s tone of voice or his odd appearance.

“No, no. I mean your memory problem, isn’t that what Nami said? Tell me about it, sit down.” Jango says gesturing to the chaise lounge behind Sanji.

“I’m not sure you’d believe me, I’m not sure I believe me.” Sanji sighs admitting his doubts out loud for the first time. He sits down in the long chair feeling drained, he hates the strangeness of this whole situation, he hates the doubts about himself and everyone else that this world is giving him. He just wants to go home.

“Believe me, I’ve heard some pretty strange things in my time. Try me, I might be able to help.” Jango chuckles and sits down on a fancy chair at the foot of the chaise lounge.

“How can you help?” Sanji snorts disbelievingly and rests his arms on his raised knees.

“I’m a hypnotist, I help people get their memories back among other things. Didn’t Nami tell you what I do?” Jango questions with a grin. Sanji’s eyes widen in surprise, but he’s not certain as to whether or not this weird looking guy can help him, he doesn’t exactly look reputable. But then again Nami wouldn’t take him to someone who would do him any harm, she is trying to help after all. And really, how much worse can it get?

“So tell me everything.” The man prompts.

So Sanji does. He tells him about his life on the grand line, all about Luffy and the crew, he tells him about devils fruit powers and All Blue. He tells Jango about the island with the lotus eaters on it, he describes the vagueness that the priestess described his unknown wish with and finally he tells him about eating the lotus and waking up in this world. He expresses his worries about how different his friends seem in this world compared to his and, worryingly, how different it seems that he must be from how he thinks of himself. Through it all the man listens quietly, occasionally asking questions here and there about the interesting parts of his story, Sanji suspects he’s looking for inconsistencies as if he would make something like that up. When he finishes Jango leans back in his chair thoughtfully, he strokes the weird thing on his chin for a while.

“I think that Chopper’s correct in that you’re not making this up. You are indeed remembering these things, your memory is too consistent and too detailed for a fabrication.” He says quietly.

"You're the first person who's not looked at me like I’m crazy when I talk about this stuff." Sanji says thoughtfully as he looks at the odd looking man. Zoro gets this pained look whenever he tries to tell him about what he really remembers. But he supposes that he can understand that a little, it must be unpleasant for Zoro to see that he doesn't remember any of what he 'should' remember and lots of a life that Zoro insists that he never lived.

"Ah you'd be surprised at the things you hear in this job, what you've told me isn't the strangest thing that I've ever heard." Jango chuckles to himself. He leans back in his chair and gives Sanji a thoughtful look.

"You know, I've had people come in here before who think that they're in the wrong world, where the memories that they have don't match up to the life that they've found themselves in, like you I suppose. They all think that they’re superheroes or crime fighters, Robin hood or Jesus daring swordsmen or even pirates. They're usually people with lives that they don't like who've snapped and made a new life for themselves in their heads.” Jango muses, stroking his weird chin thing.

Sanji bristles at that, so for all of his patient listening Jango does think that he's made this whole thing up! He's about to set the stupid hypnotist straight when Jango continues talking.

"But those people are different to you. They imagine adventure and danger because they've never lived through any, they don't know how lucky they are to live safe lives. But when you talk of the danger in your life you speak about it like a man who's seen too much. Your recollections seem so real that I almost think that you must be right, so I have to ask, if you're so convinced about the reality of your memories, why are you here?" Jango asks curiously, his long gloved fingers tapping rhythmically on the arm of his chair.

"I..." Sanji flounders, but then he recalls Zoro's worry about him he remembers the quiet worried looks that his nakama have been sending him. If there's any chance that this world is real then he owes it to his nakama to try and remember, just as much as he owes it to the nakama that he remembers to get home.

"I need to try, just in case I'm wrong." he answers firmly.

"Well, if you want to really give this a try you have to actually be open to being wrong. Your mind has to be open to memories coming back. Could you accept it if it meant that you were wrong and that the world of your memories was just a dream?" Jango asks, raising an unusually shaped eyebrow.

"Yes. Prove me right or wrong, I need to know." Sanji insists desperately, he hates this uncertainty that he’s living in. He just needs to know.

"Right then, lean back and relax." Jango instructs. Sanji settles back into his seat and tries to loosen up his muscles, he doesn’t know what the hypnotist is going to do but he has to trust in the man’s methods. Jango produces a metal ring from his sleeve on a string and dangles it before Sanji's face.

"I'm going to count and then you'll fall into a deep trance, got it?" Jango asks seriously. Sanji nods and focuses his gaze intently on the metal ring. Jango begins to swing the ring rhythmically, it's rather hypnotic in fact.

"One, two, Jango." Jango intones.

Sanji blinks and looks at Jango as the man catches the ring again and tucks it into his sleeve. Was that all that was supposed to happen?

"Was that it?" Sanji blinks confused. He’s not certain if that was some test before the real hypnosis, perhaps he was just testing that particular pendulum, maybe he has more.

"That's it." Jango smiles and stands up, taking time to stretch his back out as if he'd been still for a long time.

"What a rip-off! You didn't do anything!" Sanji yells irritatedly. Jango turns and shoots him a smug smile.

"What time was it when you came in here?" the stupid looking hypnotist asks with a smirk.

"I don't know, about nine I guess. What does that have to do with anything?" Sanji demands leaping up out of his seat after the other man.

"Look at the time." the hypnotist smirks from behind his pink heart-shaped glasses and gestures to the clock with a white gloved hand. Sanji glances up at the clock and is astonished to see that the clock reads twelve, as if to back the clock up his stomach rumbles hungrily.

"I- how?" Sanji asks already feeling in his bones that the clock isn't wrong.

"You were in a trance, people often lose track of time in that state." Jango answers with a shrug. Sanji stills as the thought washes over him, the hypnotist has already done whatever it was that he was going to do. So... where did that leave him?

"Well, was I right or wrong? Tell me." He asks nervously, his hands tensing at his sides. Is Jango going to tell him that he has gone mad? That he’s not really a pirate and his life here with Zoro is the real world? Or is he going to confirm Sanji’s memories and say that he has somehow ended up in the wrong world?

"You tell me." Jango says vaguely and Sanji's eye twitches, he’s had enough of this vague bullshit.

"I don't remember anything new, does that mean that I was right or not?" he sighs exasperatedly.

"I'm afraid that telling you the answer to that would upset the process. Let me know if you have any problems." Jango smiles and ushers Sanji out of the office.

"Hey, give me an answer you-" Sanji snaps turning around only to find that Jango has already shut the door in his face.

"bastard." he mutters at the shut door.

"Oh, Sanji. How did it go? You've been in there for forever." Nami chirps as she gets out of her chair with a stretch and drops the magazine that she was reading unceremoniously onto the table.

"I've... no idea how it went, I don't remember any of the last three hours. He was going on about some crap about not remembering things when you've been in a trance. I don’t think it worked at all." Sanji huffs irritatedly.

"Huh, well at least we're not paying for it. Come on, let's get you home. It was worth a try." Nami sighs morosely.

Together they gather up Nami’s things under the irritated glare of the man’s green haired assistant and leave the creepy cat-themed office. Sanji has to admit that he feels a lot better standing out on the street again with a cool breeze blowing on his face. Nami adjusts her hat and scouts around for a taxi whilst Sanji enjoys the gentle hum of the city and the pleasant weather as he tries to leave his worries about the hypnotist behind him for now.

Suddenly he feels something… buzz in his pocket and out of nowhere there’s sounds of music coming from somewhere. He fumbles in his pocket for a few seconds and pulls out the small buzzing thing. A glance at it tells him that it’s the same device that Zoro had been using to talk to people, a ‘mobile’ phone or something. He turns it over so the small screen faces him, vocals have now started and a picture of Zoro is displayed on the screen with his name across the top.

‘Man it’s a hot one, like seven inches from the midday sun.’ The phone sings to him. Sanji blinks dumbfounded at it, he… he remembers this song, somehow he knows what words come next.

‘I hear you whisper and the words melt everyone, but you stay so cool.’ Sanji feels his mouth moving silently with the words, he knows this song. But… he’s never heard this before, this phone thing has never done this since he woke up, so how does he know it? The song continues and he feels a creeping sense of familiarity steal over him. Something about this reminds him of Zoro, and it’s not just the man’s picture flashing on the screen.

Zoro. At the thought of the man’s name a taste of steel fills his mouth and unbidden an image of the man flashes before Sanji’s eyes. After that several more flash before him, Zoro sleeping in bed with the bed sheets wrapped around him chaotically, Zoro smirking at him over the top of a glass of beer, Zoro sitting on the floor in their flat surrounded by papers and files completely engrossed in his work.

“What the hell?” He breathes shakily as he catches onto a lamp post next to him in an effort to stabilize himself, his other hand still holding the phone. Regardless of his shock the song continues from the device in his hand.

‘And if you say this life ‘aint good enough, I would give my world to lift you up, I could change my life to better suit your mood, ‘cause you’re so smooth.’ Sanji stumbles and feels himself sliding down the lamp post onto the floor, although he can’t see anymore from the images pouring through his vision.

He can feel Zoro’s skin under his hands, feel Zoro’s breath at his ear. Snippets of motion now fly before his eyes, Zoro executing a perfect sword strike against an opponent and somehow Sanji knows that this was at a competition and that Zoro won that fight. He sees his own hands rousing Zoro from sleep as the man lays slumped over a desk in what Sanji senses is his office. He’s starting to hear Zoro now as well, he can hear rumbled greetings of ‘morning’ in that rough sleepy voice that Zoro has when he first wakes up.

‘And it’s just like the ocean under the moon, well that’s the same as the emotion that I get from you.’ Sanji clutches at his chest feeling a sudden tightness there and a prickling behind his eyes. An image of Zoro’s face contorted by rage and pain flashes before him followed by a series of similar visions of the two of them caught in some sort of argument. A sense of desperation and panic force themselves into his heart, as if he’s about to lose something precious and it’ll hurt worse than anything he’s ever felt.

‘You got the kind of lovin’ that can be so smooth, gimmie your heart, make it real or else forget about it’ Over the now overwhelming flood of images that are swarming through his brain like bees he hears Nami’s voice in a worried shriek. He feels her shake him and a hand pressed to his forehead.

‘I’ll tell you one thing, if you’d leave it’d be a crying shame, in every breath and every word I hear your name, calling me out.’ Pain starts to bloom inside Sanji’s head, the images are coming faster and faster now and he can’t stop them. It’s too much too fast and it hurts. In a detached sort of way he realises that he can hear himself yelling and screaming in pain and Nami’s panicked voice speaking to someone.

The world becomes dark and slowly Sanji opens his eyes, the street is gone and the world is just blackness. Zoro materialises leaning over him in detail that Sanji wasn’t aware that he could remember the swordsman in, he can see small flecks of colour in the man’s otherwise dark eyes. Sanji’s propped up on his elbows and he realises with a gulp that Zoro is in fact… lacking in clothes. Sanji feels his face redden and he manages to keep looking Zoro in the eye. A familiar smirk steals across Zoro’s face and a flash of a million other identical smirks shove their way through Sanji’s brain painfully. Zoro’s mouth opens and he begins to practically purr the words of the song into Sanji’s ear as he leans closer and presses his hand to Sanji’s chest. The voice is somehow both the singer’s voice and Zoro’s own and it sounds like whiskey and sex all in one.

“Out from the bayou, you hear my rhythm from your radio. You feel the turning of the world so soft and slow, turning you round and round.”

Sanji fails to suppress a shudder of want at Zoro’s voice or at the slightly predatory smile Zoro shoots him when he pulls back a little.

“Go to sleep lover.” Zoro purrs and kisses Sanji just as the world goes completely black, silent and, thankfully painless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If any of you were wondering about the song it’s called smooth by Santana, I’ll leave you guys to google on your own. Thanks for reading! <3


	7. Chapter 7

Sanji feels like he has the mother of all hangovers, his head is throbbing painfully and he daren’t move because he feels like his brain might just dribble out of his ears if he so much as twitches. Sanji tries to recollect what happened before the whole world was made of pain.

He remembers some shitty guy with stupid glasses, hypnotherapy. He remembers hearing… something, some kind of music. And then… Zoro. He feels himself frown. No, that wasn’t right, Zoro wasn’t with him. But still, he remembers Zoro very distinctly. Not in any specific way, but he remembers a certain Zoro-like quality to that moment. His brain backtracks to the reason that he was at the shitty hypnotists, he’s in the wrong world, he woke up in the wrong place after eating that stupid lotus.

So… where is he now? He’s lying on his side in what feels like a bed and not an especially comfortable one at that. He can smell that mix of bleach smell and antiseptic smell that makes him think of doctors. So he’s not in his hammock or indeed the bed in Zoro’s flat. Chopper’s medical room perhaps? Or the hospital that Zoro took him to?

Sanji keeps his eyes shut. He doesn’t know which world he’s in and if it’s the wrong one or not. In a stupid way he almost feels like if he keeps his eyes shut then he can’t be in the wrong place and everything will be okay. He lets the world filter into his consciousness properly. He can’t hear any distinctive voices around him, there’s a bustle of noise in the distance but nothing recognisable. He had half expected to hear Zoro’s voice yelling in a panic about Sanji’s health, he feels a twinge of… something at the fact that Zoro doesn’t seem to be anywhere near.

Carefully Sanji opens his eyes and looks about the hospital room that he finds himself in, next to him a machine that’s attached to him by some clip on his finger is displaying some wavy line picture. He rolls onto his back and props himself up on his elbows to look about.

The room is simple and his bed is the only one in it. There are two faded green chairs against the wall, they’re ancient and the padding on them looks worn and incredibly uncomfortable. Sanji turns to the left and spots Zeff sitting in a chair watching him silently. Sanji startles a little at the man's so far silent presence but quickly relaxes again.

"Zeff, what're you doing here? And... why am I here?" Sanji asks surprised.

"Do you remember going to see that shitty hypnotist?" Zeff asks raising large hairy eyebrow.

"I- yes. I lost about three hours of time there that I can't remember. And then right after I..." Sanji trails off. Should he tell Zeff about getting some fractured memories of Zoro back? He didn't know what they were himself yet or if they were even memories. He couldn't properly recall all of them or give them any context. He remembers those images streaming back overwhelmingly until they were unbearably painful. Should he even tell Zeff? What was there to actually tell him? He’d never been one for having heart to heart conversations with Zeff but then again when he did actually man up and ask Zeff for advice or tell him how he felt about something the man's words were always good, even if the truth could be a little hard to hear sometimes.

"Keep this a secret but... I think that I might be getting some of my memories back. Nothing big, just flashes. That's what happened when I passed out, too many memories coming back at once, it hurt and I couldn't make sense of any of them." He explains with a sigh. Zeff gives him a curious and considering look, as if he's trying to suss Sanji out.

"Why keep that a secret? That's good news isn't it? Zoro would be overjoyed to hear that." Zeff states with a frown. Sanji winces as he remembers Zoro on the sofa that morning looking at him hopefully, full of desperation to have the Sanji that remembers their life back.

"That's the point, I don't want to get his hopes up. What if those weren't memories, or what if no more come back? He'd be crushed." Sanji mutters, he knows that he would be if he were in Zoro’s shoes. Having that hope raised and then dashed again would be worse than things just never getting better. No, it was better that Zoro didn’t know.

"Hn, fair enough. You seem fine, I'm gonna go get that kid doctor to give you the all clear so we can get outta this place. Wait here." Zeff says rubbing at his nose as he stands up.

Sanji is grateful to have had Zeff here with him when he woke up but... he'd been expecting Zoro. That thought all by itself is crazy, he doesn't like being stuck in this world with Zoro as his primary source of company and he certainly doesn't need him. So there is absolutely no way in this world that he misses Zoro and he definitely isn't disappointed to not see him waiting for him to wake up. What did he care? The marimo could be off doing whatever he wanted for all Sanji gave a damn, he didn’t want to know. He certainly wasn’t going to ask about it.

"Wh-where's Zoro?" Sanji calls out to Zeff against his better judgement. The old man pauses at the door, his hand already on the handle. Zeff turns and grins at Sanji over his shoulder.

"He got kicked out of the hospital, it took about six security guys to drag him out." Zeff chuckles and turns back to face Sanji, his old face creased in obvious amusement.

"What? Why on earth would he be kicked out?" Sanji asks startled, what could Zoro have done?

"He found out that Nami was the one who took you to that shitty hypnotist. Usually the man is so mellow but when it comes to you I've seen better tempered grizzly bears!" Zeff guffaws as if it's the funniest thing he's ever heard. Sanji’s heart clenches suddenly, Zoro had been here and more than a little worried about him too! The old man opens the door and exits the room still chuckling under his breath.

Sanji draws his knees up to his chest and rests his head on his knees. He can still feel the fluttering in his chest from when Zeff told him that Zoro had been here and would be here if he could be. He shakes his head, what's wrong with him? This is Zoro for goodness sake! He's never felt like this for the marimo, the most that he's ever done is perhaps looked a little too long at Zoro when the man trains shirtless on deck for hours. He's certainly never had feelings for the man! It must be those stupid memories messing with his head!

Those memories... why was he getting them? Did this mean that Chopper's diagnosis was right and the world that he remembers really was just a dream? Could that really be the case? But everything seemed so vivid, all his memories of his friends and the Grand Line, things that he couldn't have imagined in his wildest dreams. What was going on? Sanji scratches the back of his head and growls in frustration, he can feel the stress bunching up in his shoulders. He could really use a cigarette right about now but he knows how funny hospitals are about that sort of thing.

Chopper walks through the door closely followed by Zeff. As always Sanji finds himself surprised to see a human talking to him and not a little reindeer.

"Sanji, it's so good to see that you're awake! Zeff says that you've still got the memory loss. Other than that does everything else seem to be okay?" Chopper asks sitting down on the edge of Sanji's hospital bed. Sanji glances up at Zeff gratefully, the other man lied for him.

"Ah no, I feel fine mostly. Got a headache that feels like a bad hangover but other than that I'm good." Sanji smiles encouragingly, he really doesn’t want to be kept in the hospital over night for observation.

"Well we put you through all the scanners whilst you were out to check everything was fine and you seemed ok. I still need you to take it easy though, and no more seeing dangerous hypnotists!" Chopper chides him.

"It was Nami's idea, but she meant well honestly she did!" Sanji insists. He knows that poor Nami had the best of intentions, she took him there to make up for the whole Zoro thing. And who knows what Zoro must have said to her when he found out, it must have been pretty bad to have gotten him thrown out of the hospital. He could see how badly Zoro treated Nami when she was being entirely pleasant, he must have been livid when he found out that this was (sort of) her fault. His poor Nami-swan didn’t deserve Zoro being so horrible to her when she was genuinely only trying to help.

"Yes, well. She still shouldn't have done it. He's not a doctor, he's a fraud. But I think there's been quite enough yelling done about that for a lifetime, I doubt she'll do it again." Chopper says shaking his head disapprovingly.

"So... can I go?" Sanji asks hopefully.

"Sure, just stay out of trouble. Say hi to Zoro for me, and tell him to calm down, being that angry isn't good for his blood pressure." Chopper sighs with a soft smile.

After that Sanji has his clothes returned to him and after signing lots of paperwork he's free to leave. He follows Zeff, who's still limping a little despite the quality of his fake leg, to one of those odd places like the one under Sanji's building that's filled with empty cars. To Sanji's delight he finds that Zeff actually owns a car, he has to admit that he's excited to get in one, they look exciting but not nearly as suicidal as Zoro's bike.

"Come on then, let's get you home." Zeff sighs tiredly and turns a key in a slot by the wheel causing a sudden rumbling noise and a slight shaking to fill the car.

"I- wait. Can we go see Nami first? She must be so upset about all of this." Sanji says as the thought occurs to him. His poor beautiful Nami-swan must be so upset, both after her health and the worry that she might have hurt him.

Zeff drums his fingers on the wheel of the car for a moment or two before looking over at Sanji.

"I don't know where she lives and I'm guessing that you don't remember either." Zeff grumbles unhappily.

"Ah, no. Don't you have some way of finding out?" Sanji frowns, he really wants to see the lovely navigator and put her mind at ease.

"Like what? Asking Zoro?" The old chef snorts derisively. Okay, even Sanji will concede that that's a terrible idea. He tries to think of some way to find out where Nami lives, he could go back and ask Chopper but it might be hard finding the little doctor and he might be in surgery or something! That wasn't a great idea then. If only he had her address written down somewhere, then it wouldn't matter that he couldn't remember!

The memory of that little phone-thing in his pocket springs to mind, perhaps he might have Nami's details on it! He rummages it out of his pocket and stares at it. The screen is black and shiny. He remembers it showing that picture of Zoro and playing that song that sent all those memories flooding back. It's silent at the moment and his brain isn't being assaulted by an endless stream of images of Zoro.

"Last time I had this in my hand I started remembering things." Sanji murmurs as he looks at it warily as if further memories might leap from the very device and into his brain against his will.

"Of what?" Zeff asks, his wrinkled face radiating curiously.

"Zoro." Sanji answers weakly as he recalls that apparition of a naked Zoro before him purring those song words into his ear. He's fairly sure that it wasn't a memory, which left the rather more disturbing idea that it had been his imagination. He feels his face flush at the very thought.

"Would Nami's address be in this thing?" Sanji asks holding the phone-thing up.

"In your phone? Maybe, have a look." Zeff shrugs and looks at him expectantly. Sanji looks back helplessly, he's got no idea how to use the damn thing. Realising the problem Zeff swears under his breath and takes the thing from him. Sanji watches curiously as Zeff presses the little round button at the bottom of the thing causing a picture of him, Usopp and Brook singing drunkenly to appear on the screen. A little message saying "slide to unlock" appears on the screen. Sanji frowns at that, slide what to unlock what?

Zeff slides his thumb along the screen and to Sanji's surprise the message suddenly disappears and loads of little boxes with writing underneath them come up over the image of him and his nakama. Zeff stares at the phone-thing in his hand blankly for a while as Sanji reads over his shoulder.

"Hey, would it be that one that looks like an address book? It- Oh!" Sanji is surprised, no sooner had he touched the screen to point the thing out to Zeff than the screen changed again. Zeff is still staring blankly at the screen and a thought steals through Sanji's brain.

"You don't have any more idea how to use that thing than me do you?" Sanji grins at Zeff.

"Ah shut up! Some of us have better things to do than learn these new-fangled touch-screen thingies!" Zeff huffs chucking the phone at him, his plaited moustache twitching in irritation.

Sanji laughs hysterically at that and looks at the screen. This thing doesn't look so hard to use, he can already see the names of a few people he knows on the screen, Ace's name, a few of the people from the Baratie and even an entry for the Baratie itself. Curiously he runs his finger up the screen and is surprised to find that the list moves up with it. He keeps doing that until he sees Nami's name on the screen. He taps it and a picture of Nami appears with her name next to it and a series of numbers under it, none of that means anything to him but below that is what looks like an address with the words “Nami home” next to it.

“Here, that wasn’t so hard was it? You gonna take me there or what old man?” Sanji smirks at Zeff.

“Shut up or I’ll leave you here and drive home by myself.” Zeff grouses but starts driving anyway. Soon they’re out of the car park place and driving sedately through the city traffic, this is definitely much safer than Zoro’s method of transportation. After half an hour of driving though Sanji is starting to think that the speed of Zoro’s driving and his crazy methods of whizzing around traffic and anything else in his way has something to be said for it. Eventually they pull up outside a tall brick and glass building. As Sanji gets out of the car and looks up at the impressively high building he gets a tingle of familiarity in the back of his mind, he’s… been here before.

With no other way in he wanders up to the door of the building and glances at a grey metal box with buttons on. Next to each button is a number and a little paper slip with names written on, each piece of paper has clearly been written by a different person. His eyes catch on one piece of paper that has the words “Robin & Nami” written on it and little pink flowers drawn around their names. Robin and Nami live together? Yes that… sounds right. Again Sanji is plagued by that tingle of familiarity in the back of his head, worriedly he pushes the feeling aside and presses the button.

“Hello?” Robin’s voice answers after a moment, followed by a sleepy yawn.

“Robin-chan? Is Nami there?” Sanji asks hopefully.

“Oh, Sanji! How fortunate, I was hoping to come see you soon myself and I’m sure that Nami will be happy to see you. Come on up.” Robin’s pleased voice says through the metal box. Suddenly a harsh buzzing noise rings out and something inside the door clicks. Sanji pushes against it and the door comes open. With Zeff following slowly after him Sanji makes his way through the door.

The stairs of the building are clean but blank and it seems that each floor has just one flat on it which means that, if the address on his phone is correct, Nami and Robin’s place is on the fifth floor. A substantial amount of stair climbing later and Sanji finds himself and Zeff on the fifth floor with Robin smiling pleasantly at him as she leans on her open doorframe waiting for him. She’s in a pair of silky purple pyjamas and a luxurious looking red bathrobe.

“Sanji, it’s so good to see you. Do come in. I would enquire after your health but I’ve been informed that you’re not quite yourself at the moment.” Robin smiles sweetly and ushers the two of them inside.

The flat is very pleasantly decorated with plenty of pieces of exotic looking artefacts and paintings about the place, there are at least four full size bookshelves that Sanji can count just in this room alone, it certainly looks like the kind of place that Nami and Robin would be happy to call home.

“Please excuse me being dressed for bed so early, I’m afraid I’m still a little jet lagged from my flight. Ah, would either of you like anything to eat or drink while you’re here? I was just putting on a pot of coffee that I brought back from my trip, would you like any?” Robin enquires pleasantly as she gestures to her expensive coffee maker. Robin always did take her coffee seriously, a trait that Sanji always appreciated. Zeff tilts his head curiously at the sight, his thoughts clearly running over the same appreciation of the machinery as Sanji and a small smile tugs at the corner of his mouth.

“Where have you just come back from?” Zeff asks stroking his moustache thoughtfully.

“Ah, I’ve been all over South America, various rainforests and such. The coffee was a gift on my travels.” The architect smiles secretively.

“In that case definitely. Don’t you have something to do Sanji?” Zeff prompts with a raised bushy eyebrow his usual amount of subtlety. Sanji huffs at being treated like a stupid kid in front of his beautiful flower and turns on his heel to walk down the hallway. He pauses at the door at the end of the hallway and wonders for a moment is this is Nami’s room or not, he’d just assumed that it must be or… had he remembered somehow? Shoving the worrying thoughts aside he knocks on the door quietly and waits, a few moments later the door swings inward revealing a rather red eyed Nami.

The navigator’s eyes are puffy clearly from crying and her face is paler than it should be but with blotches of pink on her cheeks. She clings to the edge of the door and eyes Sanji with surprise and worry.

“Sanji, you’re okay.” Nami says in a way that’s sounds like it’s almost a question rather than a statement.

“I’m okay.” He confirms with a warm smile to her. Nami’s face brightens a little and she steps forward out of her dark room and into the light a little more. She’s no longer wearing her pretty dress from earlier but instead an oversized jumper with chewed looking hems at the sleeves that hangs largely on her tiny frame, she looks small and insecure.

“I’m so sorry about today, I could have really hurt you. I was only trying to help but-” Nami starts to say in a voice that has an upset wobble to it, as if she might burst into tears at any moment.

“Hey, hey. Don’t be sorry, you were trying to help me out. You only took me there because I agreed, it wasn’t your fault at all. And look, I’m fine.” He coos, gathering her up in his arms and giving her a comforting hug. Nami sniffles wetly into his shoulder and mumbles apologies into his collar bone. He strokes soothing circles into her back for a while until she calms down.

“Did… did Zoro say anything awful to you? Zeff said he got so mad that they kicked him out of the hospital.” Sanji asks, he’s cautious about upsetting Nami again, he came here to comfort her after all, but he needs to know what Zoro said to her.

“He… he didn’t say anything that wasn’t true. If he was just saying nasty things that weren’t true then I wouldn’t be so upset.” Nami sniffles pulling away from him. She leans against her doorframe and rubs at her eyes with the long scruffy sleeves and huffs a tired sigh. Sanji is about to prompt her as to what Zoro said exactly when she starts speaking again.

“He said that I never really think about other people, that I only wanted to help you because I thought that I’d benefit me. It’s not entirely true, I did want you to get better, but I’d hoped that if you had got your memory back because of me that Zoro might actually start to forgive me. He is… or was my friend you know, I don’t like him hating me. He said that I put your health at risk selfishly, he said that I’m a bad friend.” Nami sighs morosely.

“Hey.” Sanji says catching her cheek in his palm and brushing a solitary tear from her beautiful face. “You’re wonderful. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to do something good and have someone think better of you for it. You’re a good person Nami, I mean it.” He insists and smiles warmly at her.

Nami smiles back at him a little weakly at first but then stronger, she leans into his palm and encases it with her own small warm hand. Sanji thinks that she looks a little happier now, a little more like the Nami that he knows.

“You’re a good friend Sanji.” She murmurs quietly. She steps forward and wraps her arms around the back of his neck and standing on her tiptoes presses a soft kiss to his cheek. If this were a less serious situation he’d be all aflutter with hearts at her affection, but even he understands that some situations need to be handled like a man. He squeezes her in a brief hug and steps back out of her personal space.

“You should probably go home and let Zoro know that you’re alright. He must be climbing the walls, you know how he gets with you.” Nami smiles at him gently.

“If you’re sure. Goodnight Nami-swan.” Sanji swoons because he had to sooner or later, Nami just looks adorable in her oversized sweater and she’s being so sweet. As strong as Sanji might be he’s still just a mere mortal man. Nami giggles as his silliness and ushers him back down the corridor and waves him goodbye almost shyly from her bedroom door.

After that Zeff sweeps him back down into the car with a brief thank-you to Robin for the apparently very good coffee which Sanji got none of. The ride back home – and shit, when did he start thinking of that place as home? - is a quiet blur. Sanji dozes in the passenger seat and Zeff drives him back in the comfortable silence that the two of them have perfected over a lifetime of being men who don’t talk much about the important stuff and dislike stupid small talk. Something about the lull of the car’s engine and the way it slowly rocks when Zeff rounds a corner reminds him of the ocean and he finds himself relaxing into sleep.

He’s sleepy and boneless when he stumbles out of the car at the gate to his building, next to the gate is a box with numbers on it. Zeff ambles unevenly up to the gate next to him and Sanji is about to turn to him to ask him about the gate when he realises that his hand is already on the number box. He stares at it for a moment, he didn’t mean to put his hand there, but it’s happened all the same, like muscle memory or something. He relaxes and lets his mind go a little blank, he wiggles his fingers to get them moving and almost of their own accord they key in four digits: 8,4,6,3. The gate beeps and unlocks.

Zeff gives him a look that quite plainly challenges him about how long Sanji thinks he can keep his memories coming back a secret. Sanji silently thinks until I get caught out. He mumbles goodnight to Zeff and wanders into the lift, keys at the ready. It turns out that he doesn’t need them because when he gets to the door of the flat that he and Zoro share he can hear Zoro pacing and swearing to himself on the other side. He’s about to knock when Zoro yanks the door on with his motorcycle jacket in hand. Perhaps he was about to go back to the hospital regardless of his being thrown out already once today. There’s a dumb moment where they both just stare at each other.

“Hi.” Sanji ventures after several moments of stupid silence. This seems to snap Zoro back to reality and the man makes a weak sound in the back of his throat and lunges forward, dropping his jacket and grabbing Sanji in one. Sanji supposes that this is a hug, not that he and Zoro have ever hugged and not that this is what he would call a hug either. It bears no resemblance to the soft comforting gesture that he gave to Nami earlier. Instead this seems more like an attempt on Zoro’s part to fuse them together and crush them into one being, he’s not entirely sure that he’s wrong. It’s just on the right side of painful and that part of Sanji’s brain that has been spewing up combinations to gates that he apparently knows says that this is home. He relaxes into Zoro’s arms and allows himself to turn his face into Zoro’s warm neck.

“I hate you, you shitty cook. You’re nothing but trouble.” Zoro growls fiercely, his fingernails digging into Sanji’s back. Sanji translates this as ‘I love you, don’t scare me like that’. He laughs at that until he and Zoro are both in hysterical laughter like the idiots that they are. Sanji looks over at Zoro and feels the faint feeling of distant music in his brain.


	8. Chapter 8

Sanji awakes on his side the next morning and stares at the painting on the bedroom wall of his and Zoro's flat. He is, once again, not in the Sunny. He presses the disappointment down and decides to stay in the comfortable bed a little longer. The bed is warm and soft around him and since he feels so sorry for himself he might as well stay here a little while, especially considering as the alternative is getting up and seeing Zoro who is not Zoro. He heaves a sigh and stares at the painting on the wall opposite him some more, it's a small rowboat sitting in still crystal blue water with a beach in the background. It makes him feel homesick for the ocean. As he stares at the painting a memory washes over him as gently as the clear water of the painted ocean.

He's walking down the street, it's cloudy and looks like it might rain. Suddenly to his right he spies a dumpster. Leaning against its side, almost obscured in the shadow, is a painting in a dark wooden frame. He stops suddenly and stares at it, Zoro bumps into him from behind and swears as he struggles not to drop anything. He and Zoro are both laden with heavy bags and boxes.

"Oi, watch it!" Zoro snaps re-arranging a bag under his arm. Sanji ignores him and excitedly puts his bags and boxes down on the ground and dashes over to the painting. It's so serene and beautiful. He looks around but it has indeed been left by a dumpster to be thrown away.

"Why would someone throw this away?" he breathes in awe, running his fingers along the fine brushwork.

"Cause the frame's broken and it's a sucky painting, it probably only cost a fiver in the first place. Come on, we have stuff to move." Zoro says irritably behind him.

"It's not sucky you asshole! It's pretty, I like it. And if someone else is just gonna throw it away then I'll take it!" he declares standing up and picking the painting up with him. The frame is indeed broken in the corner but he’s sure that he can find a new one for it easily enough.

"What? No! I don't want some ugly-ass dumpster painting in our new place!" Zoro exclaims.

Sanji's temper snaps at that, he's sore from moving boxes and bags all day and Zoro's pissy attitude isn't helping at all.

"Fine! Who cares what I want anyway? Let's just do what you want like always!" Sanji yells angrily dropping the painting, storming past Zoro and snatching up his bags and boxes.

"Hey wait! I didn't mean that, Sanji come back here!" Zoro yells after him unhappily. Sanji ignores him and stomps up the stairs with his heavy luggage. He drops the stuff in the empty flat and turns on his heel huffily and breezes past Zoro coming up the stairs over burdened with boxes. He ignores Zoro's voice as he tells Sanji to just listen, to be reasonable, as he tells Sanji that he's sorry.

Sanji is glad that he doesn't see Zoro on the next lap from the moving van to the flat with boxes but after a few times more without seeing the man he wonders where the hell Zoro is. He pauses in the flat and listens, he can hear a banging sound. He scowls angrily and stomps into the bedroom, Zoro's probably bashing about and breaking stuff like the clumsy bastard he is. As he makes his way into the bedroom the banging sound stops. Zoro is straightening the frameless painting on the wall. He pauses obviously sensing Sanji's presence.

"Happy now?" he mutters gruffly not looking right at Sanji.

Sanji looks from Zoro to the painting and melts a little inside. Zoro did actually listen to him and instead of being a bastard about Sanji yelling at him for no real reason other than being tired and irritable. Instead of being an asshole back he tried to do something nice.

“I hope you’re happy now, cause I sort of took out half the plaster on the wall putting that nail in. So this dumpster painting ‘aint coming down.” Zoro grumbles folding his arms sulkily. Sanji snickers as he spots the pile of plaster scattered at the skirting board. He snags Zoro by the collar and presses a kiss to Zoro’s temple.

“You’re secretly a sappy guy, you know that?” He smiles against Zoro’s skin.

“I’m never going to understand you, am I?” Zoro remarks looking at him sidelong.

“Hm, nope. Isn’t that what keeps you interested?” He laughs. Zoro snorts at him and catches Sanji’s jaw in his hand, he leans forward quickly and kisses Sanji gently on the lips, it’s soft and sends little shivers through Sanji.

“Something like that.” Zoro breathes against his lips.

Sanji lays in bed and feels a sympathetic little shiver run through him at the memory of Zoro’s kiss. He wonders if Zoro does kiss like that, if that memory was real. Slowly he gets out of bed and walks closer to the painting. It is nice and he feels a bit of a pull towards it. Curiously he pulls the canvas away from the wall with one finger, the bottom hinges away from the nail that the painting is hanging from. Sure enough half of the plaster on the wall behind the painting is missing and showing bare brick.

He takes a step back and closes his eyes. So, the memories are real then.

He steps backwards a little more until his calves hit the edge of the bed, bonelessly he falls down and tries to clear his head. Does this mean that his old memories, the memories of the Grand Line and his life there, are nothing but a dream? No, he can’t believe that, he won’t. But… he can’t deny that these new memories seem to be just as real. How can both of them be true?

He tries to think a little more rationally. Suppose that this is an entirely different world and that the memories that are coming back about this place are real. It almost feels like the memories are leaking from the objects and people in this place right into his brain, maybe this world is making him fit into it. That doesn’t mean that his world isn’t real too, perhaps there are many worlds. Perhaps you can fall from one to the other like sailing from island to island. If this world is real and has its own version of his nakama and his life, then where is this world’s version of him? He woke up in the bed of this Sanji, and he’s stepped into this Sanji’s life to a degree. Perhaps they swapped places?

Does that mean that this world's Sanji woke up in his world the way that his work up in this world? Shit, that'd be bad. It's been hard enough for him to adjust to this comparatively normal world. This world seems safe, in the entire time he's been here his life hadn't been in danger once, not unless you counted Zoro's demon bike. In his world however he and his nakama are constantly in mortal peril, usually this many days after landing his nakama are in trouble of some kind. Would his double be able to cope after such a safe life? It was hard enough for him to deal with the constant threat of death and he was used to it. God, what if his double died or something? Would that kill him too?

Would his nakama even know that it wasn't him? Or would they just think that his memory had gone funny like his nakama here thought? And hell, what if his double tried something on with Zoro thinking that his Zoro would react like the Zoro here? He doesn't know which idea worries him more, that his Zoro wouldn't respond positively and then when Sanji got back to his own world he'd have to live with that, or the idea that his Zoro might respond like this Zoro does.

Sanji is jolted out of his thoughts by a loud bang and a shout. Sanji strains his ears and can make out the rather hearty cursing that Zoro is so fond of. Sanji pads to the door in bare feet and his soft long pyjamas, cautiously he peeks around the edge of the door. Zoro is crouched on the floor trying to pick up manila files one handed whilst rubbing the top of his head with the other hand. To his side is a half empty black plastic box with similar files spewing out of it. Judging from the high shelves on the wall with similar looking boxes on Zoro was trying to get one down when it fell on his head. Zoro is now cursing in a different language, apparently having exhausted the bad language that he knows in English. He only realises that he’s laughed when Zoro looks up at him in surprise and his face flushes bashfully.

“Sorry to be crashing about so early and waking you up.” Zoro apologises straightening up and putting his files in the plastic box. With a grunt he hefts the now full box and carries it over to the small coffee table.

“I was awake already.” Sanji shrugs and moves towards Zoro. The other man is clad only in boxers at the moment and Sanji would be lying if he said that it wasn’t somewhat… distracting. In lieu of staring though he makes his way around the sofa and looks over Zoro’s shoulder as the man quickly flicks through the files one by one as if looking for something. Sanji catches glimpses of photos of people but he has no idea who any of these people are or why Zoro has files with their pictures in.

“What’re you doing?” He asks curiously.

“Hm, looking for something. I don’t know what though. I’ve got a nagging feeling that some missing piece of this puzzle is in one of my old files but I’ve no idea what one. Hopefully it’ll jump out at me.” Zoro murmurs distractedly replacing yet another file in the box and flicking through a new one, this one he rejects almost immediately, the same with the next two. The final one in the box isn’t even glanced at once Zoro catches the name on the file. With a disgruntled sigh Zoro picks the box up off of the table and walks back over to the high shelves, the muscles in his back flexing appealingly.

Sanji shakes his head as if trying to shake these thoughts loose. Two sexual thoughts about Zoro in as many minutes? It must still be that dream getting to him. Still… he glances back up at Zoro who is trying to replace the box on the shelf. It wobbles alarmingly and Sanji dashes over before Zoro can brain himself again with the stupid box. He reaches up and supports the box with his fingers at the last moment. He has to stretch as Zoro has a fair bit more reach than him despite being only an inch taller.

“You’re gonna drop it, idiot.” He snaps, stretching up on his tiptoes to help Zoro guide the box to the edge of the shelf without knocking any of the others down. Zoro doesn’t seem to be paying much attention and Sanji foolishly makes the mistake of looking down from the box at Zoro.

He is so very, very close. Sanji’s eyes can’t even focus clearly on him he’s so close. He can, however, spy the darkened gaze that Zoro has on his mouth. He doesn’t have enough time to panic before Zoro’s mouth is on him for real, not a dream this time, not some barely recalled memory but the real thing. The kiss isn’t passionate Sanji thinks, not like the first time you kiss someone, it’s the kind of gentle and affectionate kiss that you have with someone when you know that you can always have more. It’s a neat and insistent press of lips that has Sanji sighing into the kiss, it’s only when Zoro takes this as an encouraging sign and deepens the kiss that Sanji realises just what’s going on and launches himself away from Zoro with a slightly terrified squeak. He catches the slightly startled and hurt expression on Zoro’s face before the box falls onto the man’s head now that it’s unsupported by Sanji’s hand. Zoro curses loudly and clutches his head again for the second time that morning.

“I’m so sorry!” Sanji blurts impulsively and dashes forward again to help Zoro pick up the box and files.

“Nh, it’s okay. I get it, you don’t remember any of this. I shouldn’t have done that.” Zoro says shaking his head and gathering up his scattered files.

Sanji bites his lip and doesn’t say that it’s okay, he doesn’t say that the kiss has left him tingling and cursing himself for pulling away. He closes his eyes firmly so as not to look at Zoro’s barely clothed body and reminds himself that this isn’t his world, that this isn’t his Zoro.

It certainly isn’t, this Zoro just managed to politely tell him that he wasn’t upset despite him rejecting him regardless of how long they’d been together by Zoro’s memory. He’s not sure how the Zoro he knows would respond to that, but he’s pretty sure that the Zoro he knows wouldn’t be so gracious. Zoro’s always been quick to fight if he suspects that Sanji is insulting him in any way and you can’t get much more insulting than being rejected by your significant other with the added implication that your sexuality is no longer open to them.

In fact this Zoro is almost nothing like his. His Zoro fights with him for no reason and, sure this Zoro has goaded him a few times playfully since he’s been here, but it’s been just that, banter and not a real fight. Nor has this Zoro made any attempt at cutting him in half with a sword or belittled his strength. Heck, this Zoro hasn’t even put his feet on the dining table!

He opens his eyes and looks at this Zoro carefully. They look exactly the same, but this Zoro has been able to be different enough for him to appreciate the man’s good looks. Zoro seems to spot his scrutiny after he manages to finish replacing the box on the shelf without dropping it on himself again.

“What?” He asks with a curious tilt of his head.

“You’re just… so different to the Zoro that I know.” Sanji answers standing up awkwardly. This Zoro hasn’t been especially receptive to talking about what Sanji remembers of his world, it seems to put him in a bad mood. Today is different though apparently as Zoro laughs merrily.

“Oh what, your swashbuckling pirate Zoro?” Zoro snickers.

“What does that even mean? How do you even buckle swash? That doesn’t- just shut up.” Sanji says exasperatedly.

“So how’s your Zoro different then?” the green-haired swordsman asks with a challenging grin.

“Well, he always fights with me. We’re always screaming at each other and he’s never pleasant to me, not like you. He’s so impossible to get on with and I swear he just fights with me and insults me because he can, he doesn’t do it to anyone else really. He has no manners and he’s got no appreciation for my skills!” Sanji cuts himself off because he really could go on all day with the list of things that Zoro does that piss him off. He can already feel the Zoro-induced irritation starting the build under his skin at the very thought. He takes a calming breath and continues.

“But you, you’re… different. You’re not like him at all. Why are you so different?” He asks quietly. He looks at Zoro who is watching him with some interest.

“Hah, I’m not really. I used to be just like that, it was the only way I could get a rise out of you, you just ignored me otherwise. I didn’t know what else to do, I didn’t exactly have any experience with that kind of thing.” Zoro laughs lightly, his hand slung casually on his own bare hip.

“What do you mean you didn’t have any experience?” Sanji asks perplexed.

“Asexual remember? Well, except for you. So when I met you I had no idea what else to do. You ever seen little kids on a playground around the age that the boys work out that they like the girls? They don’t know what to do or even understand it enough to know what they’re feeling, so they just go over and punch them or pull their hair because it’s better than doing nothing.” The other man explains with a laugh.

Sanji just stares at Zoro. That can’t be possible, that the Zoro he knows on the Sunny really is attracted to him and just doesn’t know how to deal with it, can it? All this time, all those arguments, and Zoro was just… what? Pulling his pigtails like a little kid or something? But… what about this Zoro?

“Well, what changed with you?” He questions shakily.

“Ah, well, I still wind you up. It’s always been fun so I’ve not given it up completely, but things go better when I’m not deliberately being an ass to you. That and I’ve discovered a far better way to get under your skin.” Zoro smirks at him. Sanji almost dreads to ask but he’s never been a good one at resisting curiosity.

“What’s that then?” He asks challengingly, whatever Zoro can do to get under his skin he’s sure he can take it. He’s spent months putting up with Zoro’s constant irritating behaviour, this Zoro seems nowhere near as bad. In comparison what could he possibly do?

“You really wanna know?” the marimo asks quirking an eyebrow at him.

“Yeah.” He retorts feeling self-assured, he’s not going to back down. And he needs to show Zoro that the kiss didn’t bother him, that it was just that it was a surprise and that his leaping back was because of that not as an insult. And either way he’s not going to back down from a challenge now is he?

Zoro gives him a wary look and steps closer but Sanji doesn’t waver. Zoro’s hand reaches forward and buries itself in Sanji’s hair behind his right ear. With a curious and slightly wary look on his face Zoro’s blunt fingers scratch at Sanji’s scalp, almost as if he was a cat or something, it’s… pleasant. With a look that even Sanji can translate as ‘oh good, I’m not going to get my face kicked off’ the marimo leans forward. Sanji tenses a little but holds his ground even as Zoro’s large warm hand comes to rest on his other hip. Zoro’s stubble grates against his jaw pleasantly and he uses his hand in Sanji’s hair to tilt his head slightly, opening up his neck. Zoro’s lips come to rest almost painfully gently on the skin just behind his jaw and under his ear. Then Zoro opens his mouth with a scrape of teeth across Sanji’s apparently very sensitive skin and presses his tongue to Sanji’s hammering pulse-point. He hears himself gasp as the hand that Zoro has on his hip slides under his clothes, the edge of his thumb nail dragging sparks that skitter across Sanji’s skin. The rest of Zoro’s hand pulls him forward against the thigh between his legs and oh. Getting the hint Sanji plasters himself to Zoro as the other man runs a hand up his spine and continues biting and kissing down Sanji’s neck.

Suddenly Zoro steps back away from Sanji with a devious grin on his face. Absently he scratches his jaw and smirks at Sanji.

“Well, I’m off to shave. See ya.” He grins and disappears into the next room.

And so Sanji finds himself standing in the living room half hard and feeling a little shell shocked. He shudders slightly and scrubs at his neck with his hand. Zoro’s right, that’s a much more effective way of getting under his skin. He doesn’t know whether to chase after Zoro and kick his head off for being so bold and teasing him or to chase after him to shove him to the floor and straddle him. Damn.


	9. Chapter 9

There were many things in life that Sanji loved; women, cooking late at night, fine dining, crisply pressed suits, kicking ass. All of those were things that he loved immensely. This however was always an exquisite pleasure, one that he fairly frequently was treated to but was always incredibly brilliant each time. It was the moments leading up to, and of course, the exact moment that Zoro was forced to admit that he was lost.

The marimo had decided to take him out to see the city for the day, he had thought it might do Sanji’s memories good. Not that Sanji was going to tell him that his memories were coming back just fine, thank you very much, but it was better than being supervised all of the time. He’d dragged Sanji from place to place excitedly describing either the history of that part of the city or pointing out places where memorable things with their nakama had happened. Occasionally Sanji saw glimpses of scenes that he’d been there for, they were overlaid over the real world like faded photos with a muted soundtrack. If he tried to focus on them too hard though they slipped from him. Zoro had started dragging him in a new direction about half an hour ago, enthusing about a surprise that he wanted to show Sanji.

So here they are, standing on a street in the middle of London with Zoro looking slightly perplexed, as if the city itself had somehow connived against him and twisted itself to make him lose his path. Zoro glances down the side streets and frowns, apparently they’re not the streets he was expecting. He twists and looks past Sanji back the way they came. Sanji bites his lip, relishing the moment.

“You’re lost.” He proclaims with a grin so wide it hurts his face a little. Zoro tenses for a second, as if Sanji had actually thrown something more than an accusation at him.

“I’m not lost, Sanji. I’ve lived here since I was sixteen, I know my way around.” Zoro replies haughtily and gives Sanji a look that suggests that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. As if he’d done something ridiculous like try to tell Zoro how to handle a sword or something.

“Oh, I see. So, you know exactly where we are then?” He goads, leaning his arm casually against Zoro’s shoulder. Zoro looks a little uncomfortable and glances around at the buildings as if for clues.

“Of course. We’re on… Clipstone Mews.” Zoro declares smugly. Sanji doesn’t even need to turn around to know what just happened.

“Well done genius. You can read that street sign behind me. Any idea where Clipstone Mews is?” He prompts.

“I’m not lost, I’m sure if we just keep walking I’ll find my bearings.” Zoro huffs unhappily.

“Ah! So you admit that you are lost!” Sanji exclaims loudly, making Zoro flush delightfully red with annoyance.

“No! Let’s just keep going!” he snaps starting to stomp off. Sanji however catches him by the elbow, taking some sympathy on the man he suggests another solution.

“You’ve been lost for ages, I can tell. Just walking blithely in any direction isn’t going to help.” He sighs and continues before Zoro can interrupt him with another obviously wrong assertion that he’s not lost.

“Look, there’s a shop over there. I’ll go in and buy a map, then we can get to wherever it was that you were trying to take me.” He says and saunters off across the street before Zoro can protest or stop him, he knows what Zoro is like with asking for directions so it’s better not to give the man a choice at all.

Inside the shop he buys a white book with the words ‘London A to Z’ on it. Inside are lots of maps of the city, both distance and close up and a helpful index of street names. He’s already finding their street when he makes his way back to Zoro. The man clearly isn’t happy but obviously couldn’t bring himself to storm off and leave him on his own, which leaves him standing stock still with indignity rolling off of him in waves, it’d be sweet if it wasn’t so funny.

When he finds the right page with their street on it he sidles close to Zoro and holds the book so that they can both see it. Zoro’s eyes scan the page but Sanji finds himself distracted. Zoro’s only wearing a light t-shirt, it is summer after all, but even through that he can feel the heat coming off of Zoro and where his bare arm touches Sanji’s own it feels like it warms him down to the bone. He’s never been a very touchy feely person with people, except pretty women of course, but somehow over the last few days the boundaries between Zoro’s personal space and his have dissolved completely. Evidently Zoro doesn’t feel that Sanji is getting in his space as he seems as calm and natural as can be.

Sanji looks at Zoro critically whilst Zoro looks slightly bewildered at the map and mutters about not understanding how they ended up where they are. He tries to imagine what he would think if he met this Zoro as a complete stranger, if he’d not known the Zoro that he does. He wonders how he would react to this gentler Zoro, a Zoro who doesn’t feel the need to… what was that phrase he used? Pull his pigtails? He looks at Zoro’s face carefully. Tan skin, dark eyes, perhaps if you were feeling in a particularly poetic mood you might even be able to describe his jaw as chiselled. His cheekbones were certainly attractive, defined without being too obvious. The hair was undeniably a stupid colour, there was no getting around that. But… if you were used to it, as Sanji was, then it was easy enough to look past that and see that Zoro was actually rather… handsome.

Sanji was still torn over this morning, the kiss had been… pleasant. Well, pleasant wasn’t quite the word. It had felt almost right, natural even. As if it was something he’d been designed to do, like breathing. And Zoro’s tantalising touch after that had certainly played havoc with Sanji’s blood pressure. Perhaps it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to let Zoro do it again, or to make an advance himself. It was a tempting proposition, here was a man who knew exactly how to get him going, he’d had years of learning to pick it up after all. There wouldn’t be any fumbling or uncertainty from Zoro.

But suppose that his theory was right, that he’d been swapped with the Sanji that belonged here. Would that be getting Zoro to cheat? Zoro wasn’t the kind to do that and he’d been hurt enough by having it done to him. Although on that note Sanji wasn’t sure that his counterpart deserved someone like Zoro after the way he’d behaved towards him, perhaps it would give him a taste of his own medicine. And Zoro really was tempting… perhaps he should just shove Zoro against the wall of the building to the side of them and slide his hands under that white t-shirt and- Sanji realises all of a sudden that Zoro is looking at him with a slightly irritated expression on his face. His brain helpfully informs him too late that Zoro had been saying something.

“Uh? Sorry?” he ventures. Zoro rolls his eyes despairingly.

“I said, we’re going to go to the station and catch a train to where we’re supposed to be. So you can put away your silly tourist map, I know where I’m going.” Zoro declares condescendingly and confidently leads the way in the direction they’d been heading originally.

For a few moments Sanji does follow Zoro, until something in his head niggles at him that something is wrong. Curiously Sanji glances back down at the map and pauses. What had Zoro said again?

“Wait, what station?” He asks looking up at the swordsman.

“Great Portland Street station. It’s right in the direction of that big tower.” Zoro declares pointing up to a big tower that’s just visible over the tops of the buildings. Sanji glances down at the map book in his hand again, the station and the tower are both on the map. However…

He looks up at Zoro with a snarky grin. Zoro’s arm slowly falls down to his side again and he slowly glances back up at the tower as if expecting it to have moved to trick him. His brows furrow slowly.

“But that way is-” He starts and wisely cuts himself off before he can give a compass direction that is disastrously wrong. Sanji bites his lip to stop himself from laughing.

“Shut it blondie.” Zoro snaps, smacking him on the back of the head as he walks back past Sanji in the right direction this time.

 

Eventually, with a lot of redirecting from Sanji, they end up on an incredibly packed street of London. Zoro drags him a little way down the road before stopping outside a massive bookshop.

"You lost again moss-head?" he snorts.

"No, this is where I wanted to take you." Zoro replies irritably.

Unconvinced Sanji glances up at the bustling bookshop again, nope, it's still a bookshop. Why on earth would Zoro take him here? Neither of them are massive readers and this isn't the sort of place that holds enough interest for Sanji for it to make sense for Zoro to bring him here. Apparently bored with Sanji's skeptical looks Zoro grabs him by the arm, shoots him a sly conspiratorial look and drags him inside.

Sanji is dragged through the packed shop by Zoro who weaves around bookshelves and people alike. Eventually Zoro comes to a stop in front of the cooking section. Sanji finds himself instinctively bristling at that, is Zoro saying that he can't cook or that he's bored with what he's been cooking? Okay, so he’s not exactly been feeding Zoro haute cuisine the last few days but he’s not been phoning it in either.

"Close your eyes!" Zoro grins, stepping in front of him. Sanji starts to protest but Zoro is firm on his demand. With a put-upon sigh Sanji closes his eyes and listens, he can hear Zoro pulling a book free from the shelf. He feels a little worried in the noisy hustle and bustle of the rest of the shop that someone’s going to knock into him with his eyes shut. The marimo pulls Sanji's hands forward and plunks a heavy book in his hands. Sanji opens his eyes and gasps in wonder.

The book is blue and white with gold writing at the top saying 'Sanji's kitchen'. The book is a glossy hardback that looks both professional and expensive. On the cover is a picture of him in a blue chef's outfit with a charming grin on and a balloon whisk in his hand with stiff whipped cream in it. He's surrounded by cooking equipment in a fancy blue kitchen.

With his jaw hanging open he flicks through the book, it's filled with beautiful glossy pictures of dishes that he recognises. There’s close up shots of his food looking quite frankly beautiful, there’s pictures of him hard at work cooking, not even noticing the camera. In the backgrounds of some of the shots he can see pictures of his friends artistically out of focus, he recognises one of Robin’s hands holding a spoonful of rich looking soup. The book is full or recipes that he remembers cooking, recipes where he's taken inspiration from several dishes and made his own. He spies a chocolate and coffee dessert that he invented for Robin and an orange chicken dish he made for Nami. Every dish in here is one that he created from scratch or where he spliced several recipes together to make something unique, it’s all him. The book is beautiful and all his. He... he wrote a cookbook.

A memory starts coming back, it feels soft and warm, like it's a memory that he's looked over hundreds of times before.

He's in the Baratie, it's just him and Zoro. Zoro's eating Sanii's special Thai curry that he invented himself and Sanji's leaning against the bar cleaning glasses and taking bites of his own curry from a bowl. Zoro looks younger, Sanji remembers that he was nineteen here but he doesn’t look like the nineteen year old Zoro that Sanji knows on the Grand Line. He looks younger than that Zoro, skinnier too with less muscle. He's got a bruise blossoming on his cheek and rips in his clothes, Sanji knows somehow that this was after the fight with Arlong. He and Zoro have barely known each other two months and Zoro’s still healing from that gash in his chest that the psychotic swordsman gave him. Regardless of his injuries Zoro and the rest of his crazy friends, who are now rapidly becoming Sanji’s friends, had rushed off to rescue Nami from Arlong. Everyone else has gone their own way tonight, Nami and Luffy to hospital to see about her shoulder, Zoro’s two buddies have disappeared and Usopp has gone home. It’s just him and Zoro and he’s not had the heart to let a man go hungry, he never has.

"This is really good, where did you learn to make this?" Zoro asks sleepily, his cheek resting tiredly in his hand as he feeds himself with a fork from his other hand.

"Didn't." Sanji grunts and stacks the last clean glass in the drying rack.

"You mean you made this yourself? Invented it?" Zoro asks with a curious tilt to his head. Sanji hums affirmatively around a forkful of curry.

"You should write a cookbook or something, if you're the only one who knows this recipe then I bet people would pay to learn how to make it." Zoro says with some enthusiasm as he looks at the curry on his fork with a hint of admiration in his eyes.

"Shut up, idiot. You have to be famous and really good to write a cookbook." Sanji says dismissively. It's a stupid pipe dream, no one would buy a book written by him, he doesn't even know how to write a book. It’s stupid to even think of such a thing.

"You've got it backwards, dumbass. You write the book and then you become famous. As long as you keep your stupid mouth shut and let your food do the talking you’d be fine." Zoro snorts as if Sanji is a moron.

Sanji is floored, Zeff and the others never say anything all that great about his food, he gets more insults than compliments to be sure. But Zoro actually thinks that he could do something amazing like writing a cookbook.

"Don’t… don’t be stupid. Who'd buy it anyway? Even you wouldn’t buy it.” Sanji says dismissively expecting a flat no and a laugh from the man, perhaps this is a set up for a cruel joke.

"Hah, sure I would. I'd buy ten and get you to sign 'em, then I could eBay them and pay my rent for ages!" Zoro grins deviously.

Sanji blushes, Zoro in a round about way is saying that not only does he think Sanji is a good enough cook to write a cookbook but also that people would buy it, and that they'd be popular too. Enough so to make him famous enough to have his autograph worth something! That’s one hell of a compliment, even if it is wrapped in about six different insults.

He looks at Zoro and… it’s like he’s seeing him, really seeing him, for the first time. The man is brave and attractive with a good heart, he’s got good friends and apparently thinks that Sanji can do anything he wants to.

“Go out with me. We could go to a bar or something.” He says on impulse.

“I’m tired, I’m beat up and probably bleeding from a tonne of busted stitches. Don’t you have booze here if you want to drink?” Zoro groans and experimentally rubs his chest where Sanji knows the bandage is.

“No, stupid. I meant somewhere else another night. Or we could get coffee if you’d prefer. Go out with me.” He reiterates because Zoro is clearly not getting the picture.

Zoro’s eyes widen and his fork freezes halfway between his plate and his mouth. The two of them stare at each other in silence for a few moments, of which Sanji feels less and less comfortable with each passing one.

“You… want me to go out with… you? On a… date? With you?” Zoro manages to choke out wide eyed. Sanji winces at that because, ow, harsh much?

“Hah, never mind, I clearly misread you. Forget it.” Sanji laughs bitterly and backs up, he grabs his half-empty bowl as an excuse to go back into the kitchen and away from Zoro.

“Ah! No!” Zoro yelps and Sanji feels a hand snag the back of his chef’s whites. He pulls forward away from Zoro, his face flushing with embarrassment. He doesn’t want to have to look Zoro in the face after being a disbelievingly rejected.

“Ow! Fuck!” Zoro yelps in pain behind him, his grip on the back of Sanji’s jacket tightening.

Sanji pauses and turns. As he does so Zoro eases back off of the edge of the bar, his chest had smacked into it when Sanji kept walking and Zoro kept holding on. The man winces in pain and gingerly touches a hand to the middle of his chest, his other hand absently slides down to Sanji’s forearm. His grip is loose but still able to tighten in a second, as if Zoro’s afraid that he might dash off at a moment’s notice. Zoro pulls his hand back and Sanji spots the fingerprint of blood having soaked through his shirt and the bandage below it.

“Shit, busted a stitch.” Zoro mutters to himself.

“Holy crap! We need to get you to a hospital!” Sanji gasps and rounds the bar quickly. He tugs Zoro’s t-shirt up despite Zoro’s protests and sees that the bandage on Zoro’s chest is rapidly filling with blood.

“Wait, did you mean it? Do you really want to go out with me?” Zoro asks, apparently unconcerned by bleeding to death.

“What does it matter? Come on, I’m taking you to hospital!” Sanji yells almost hysterically, tugging Zoro off of his seat and out to the back of the restaurant to where he has his car parked. He’s trying to work out the quickest route when Zoro suddenly stops cooperating and stamps to a halt. When he turns to see what’s up Zoro is giving him a stubborn look.

Mentally he replays the conversation until he comes to what Zoro last asked him.

“Yes, I want to go out with you if you don’t bleed to death! Now get in the car!” He orders, dragging Zoro out the back and to his blue car parked in the alleyway. He unlocks the door and bundles Zoro into the passenger side. He quickly darts around to the driver’s side and fires up the engine.

“You know, you really should do the book thing. ‘m surprised you haven’t already, I thought all cooks wanted that.” Zoro slurs slightly. Sanji glances at him worriedly, Zoro is starting to look a little paler than he’d like.

“Very few cooks are good enough for that. It’s… I’m not good enough for that. I mean, I’d love to but it’s such a crazy impossible dream that… it’s pointless going after it.” He says, desperate to keep Zoro talking. The man needs to stay alert.

“Hey, you’re good enough. If you’ve got a dream you should go for it, that’s what dreams are for.” Zoro says sagely. Sanji rounds a corner quickly, making the tyres screech and Zoro slump to the side and thunking his head slightly on the window.

“It doesn’t work like that, and I’ve got obligations to Zeff, I can’t just-” He starts to protest with a frown.

“If you don’t go for it I’ll get out of the car.” Zoro threatens and reaches for the door release. Sanji stares wide eyed at him, Zoro is just the kind of guy who’s crazy enough to pull a stunt like that.

“OKAY! Don’t touch that! I’ll do it, I’ll try!” Sanji yelps. Zoro grins smugly and slumps back bonelessly in his seat with triumph written all over his face.

“You don’t really need to drive me to the hospital you know.” Zoro says weakly and looks at him with half-lidded eyes.

“I just need to sleep it off. I’ll be fine.” Zoro yawns and closes his eyes.

“You can’t sleep off a hole in your chest, idiot!” Sanji snaps.

Zoro doesn’t answer.

“ZORO? Wake up!” He yells, shaking Zoro with a free hand. They’re about two minutes out from the hospital, less if he pushes the car as fast as it can go.

Zoro doesn’t respond, his head lolls against his chest.

“I’ll fucking kill you if you die on me asshole!” Sanji curses vehemently and pushes the accelerator to the floor.

 

“Hey, are you okay?” Zoro prompts, waving his hand in front of Sanji’s face. Sanji rapidly snaps to, dropping out of the memory. A dull ache is thudding behind his eyes at the effort of remembering but it’s nothing compared to how bad it was before when every memory of Zoro kept forcing itself into his brain.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little… overwhelmed I guess.” He mutters and looks back down at the book. Obviously Zoro survived, so he supposes that he kept his end of the bargain and wrote the book. He feels a proud little flutter in his chest. People own copies of this book, people cook what he cooks. He’s taught people, inspired them.

“It’s a big deal. That book was your big impossible dream, and you did it.” Zoro smiles at him fondly.

“Hah, the funny thing is, you didn’t even let yourself think about it before we met. But as soon as Luffy heard about it he wouldn’t let you stop doing it, he told Zeff and convinced the old man to drop your hours so you could work on it. I think he wanted to write one when he was younger so he was really pleased to see you going for it. Usopp did all the photographs, Nami helped fund you to get you started and Robin pulled some strings with a few people she knew. Luffy of course took on the heavy burden of testing all of your recipes.” Zoro chuckles deeply.

Sanji is… speechless really. He wouldn’t even have thought about this sort of thing but… the idea really appeals. He could really touch people with his food, he could do his best to ensure that everyone could cook to the best of their abilities, emphasise quality ingredients and a love for food.

“It’s… a shame you don’t remember it. But, you were thinking of writing another. Travelling the world to find recipes from all over the place and getting to see the world too, a big adventure.” Zoro grins at him.

Oh but that is tempting. He’s always enjoyed picking up new ingredients on the Grand Line but he’s always been too wrapped up in Luffy’s dream and the danger of the Grand Line to really study the cooking in all the places they go to. Here that wouldn’t be a problem, he could really stretch his culinary wings.

“But, what about you? Surely I wasn’t planning on leaving you behind?” He gasps horrified at the idea. Zoro had helped this other Sanji achieve his dream, he’d supported him and helped him make it real. And this other Sanji treated him like crap, he wouldn’t put it past that shitty bastard to just leave Zoro here and travel alone!

“What? No. My work can go with me, it’s not like there’s a shortage of work in my field. And it’s not as if there’s no dojos elsewhere either, I can continue teaching too if I wanted. I’ll go where you lead.” Zoro smiles at him.

“That… that sounds really great actually.” He manages as he clutches his cookbook to his chest and tries to ignore the lump forming in his throat.

He looks back up to Zoro but Zoro isn’t looking at him, he’s looking over Sanji’s shoulder with suspicious eyes. Zoro cranes his neck to see… whatever it is that he’s looking at and his eyes widen suddenly. He clamps his hand on Sanji’s shoulder and jerks them both back behind two sideway bookshelves, he shoves Sanji back against the end of the bookshelf and glances warily around the side. Sanji recognises the look that Zoro is wearing, the hard set jaw, the scowl and the fierce eyes; it’s how the Zoro that he knows looks an awful lot of the time, it’s Zoro’s dangerous situation face.

“What is he doing here?” Zoro mutters, more to himself than anyone else Sanji suspects.

“What’s who doing here?” Sanji hisses quietly and glances around the bookshelf. Right in the middle of all the casual shoppers is a blonde guy wearing a massive pink feather coat and big purple and white glasses, that’s just the kind of weirdo Sanji would expect to see back home, not here.

“That guy, Donquixote Doflamingo. I’ve been trying to track him down for forever and now he shows up here?” Zoro explains quietly and narrows his eyes at the man around the edge of the bookshelf.

“Well, who is he? He looks like a complete freak.” Sanji says raising an eyebrow at Zoro.

“He’s a crime lord, if you can believe it. He controls pretty much everyone, at just a flick of his hand he’s got henchmen all across the city doing his dirty work. He controls people like no one I’ve ever seen, his reputation is infamous, he can turn lifelong nakama against each other, he gets a real kick from it too. The guy’s a nutjob and I know that one of his cronies is behind the missing kid I’m looking for.” The marimo explains and edges them around the other side of the bookshelf to keep out of the man’s view but still so Zoro can spy on him.

“Missing kid?” Sanji asks with a frown.

“Yeah, but what’s this guy doing here of all places? Hah, I told you that wherever I went there was work.” Zoro laughs without much humour.

“Work? What is it that you actually do?” he asks looking up at Zoro. It’s hard to believe that he’s not asked until now but it hadn’t seemed especially… relevant. He tries to call up a memory to tell him but nothing comes.

“I find people that need finding.” Zoro answers absently and pulls his phone from his pocket. Quietly he snaps a picture of Doflamingo browsing the true crime section and selects a number that even upside down Sanji can read as ‘Smoker’. Zoro sends the picture and stuffs the phone back in his pocket. Sanji tilts his head and tries to think, Zoro finds people? But he works for Smoker, and smoker is a marine so…

“So you’re what, a bounty hunter?” he asks with a frown, that’s a bit of an unnerving parallel between his own world and this one.

Zoro’s eyes snap to him with a scowl, the same displeased scowl that the Zoro he knows has whenever the bounty hunter thing is brought up, then he says the same words that the Zoro he remembers has said before whenever people ask.

“I never called myself that, I just did it a few times for the money.”

But then he adds; “No, I’m… I guess you’d call it a Private Investigator. That’s what it says on the door to my office at least. I find people, I help people in trouble. And this guy is big trouble.”

Sanji doesn’t know what to make of that so he leans around the bookshelf again and spies Doflamingo sauntering over to the counter with his purchase. He has a bit of a psychotic grin on his face that sets Sanji’s teeth a little on edge just looking at it. After that he wanders out of the shop. He hears Zoro breathe a sigh of relief and he finally steps back and stops pressing Sanji into the bookshelf, he kind of misses the man’s warmth against him.

“I need to tail him okay? Get in a taxi, one of those black cars, and tell them to take you to the Baratie. Zeff can keep an eye on you. Will you be okay, can you manage that?” Zoro asks eyeing him worriedly. Stupid over protective marimo, worrying about him all the time when he should be worrying about his own neck.

“I can manage. But isn’t that guy dangerous? Shouldn’t I come with you?” Sanji presses feeling concerned for the very unarmed man before him. He doesn’t like seeing Zoro walking around without his swords, it’s not right.

“Hey, I was made for danger. Ordinarily I’d be happy to have you with me, but you’re still not yourself. Go to Zeff, I can handle this.” Zoro grins before leaning in and pressing a kiss to Sanji’s temple. He pulls back and darts out of the shop after Doflamingo.

Sanji stays leaning against the bookshelf and gives himself a few moments to collect himself. He glances down at his book in his hand and back up at the door that Zoro and Doflamingo just left through. So much for a completely safe and boring world.


	10. Chapter 10

Sanji can perhaps understand why Zoro hadn't wanted to leave him at the Baratie before. He manages to last all of fifteen minutes at the restaurant before the incompetence of the others forces him to intervene and start cooking. It helps to take his mind off of the danger that Zoro could well be in, he doesn't like that he's chasing that psycho alone and unarmed, if he had even the first clue as to where he might be then he'd go to his side in a heartbeat. But as it was he had no idea.

He admittedly spends most of the night glancing up from his work through the windows that show the restaurant hoping to see Zoro coming through the doors safe and sound. But Zoro never appears.

Even come closing time at eleven Zoro still is absent, and by half eleven when the Baratie is clean and ready for the next day Zoro is still a no show.

"What's up eggplant? You look like hell." Zeff says twitching his braided moustache.

"I was expecting Zoro is all. He's chasing after some psycho, the idiot." Sanji mutters distastefully as he flings a damp washcloth into the sink.

"That's what he does. Go home, he's not gonna come looking for you here when we're closed is he?" Zeff snorts as if he's being dumb. Sanji grunts in agreement and heads to the main doors to the Baratie, he'll lock the door after him.

"You’re still getting your memories back?" Zeff calls after him in a way that sounds more like a statement than a question, as if the bastard knows. Sanji freezes at the door, his hand stilled at the handle.

"Bits and pieces." he answers quietly.

"And you still haven’t told him.” Zeff says with a dark edge to his voice. Sanji turns and leans against the locked front door while giving the old man a level look.

"We talked about this." he states simply.

"Yeah, you weren't sure it was going to keep happening, but it has. So why haven't you told him?" The older cook presses him.

"Because I don't know how much I'm going to get back, I wouldn't want to get his hopes up!" Sanji replies exasperatedly, hadn't he and the old man discussed this just days ago? Who was the one here with memory problems again?

"Bullshit! You're just scared, you're acting like a coward. I don't know why but when it comes to Zoro you're a pathetic coward, you always have been! That's why you kept screwing up with him, 'cause you were too scared of getting hurt!" Zeff snaps fiercely, his blue eyes blazing.

"I'm not a coward! I'm trying to protect him!" Sanji retorts defensively.

"You're protecting yourself!" the old man shoots back.

"I am not!" he protests.

"Then tell me, what exactly do you feel for Zoro?" Zeff demands and fixes Sanji a challenging look.

"I- It's... we... it's complicated." Sanji answers, squirming like a worm on a hook under Zeff's unblinking stare.

"Shit like this is as complicated at you make it, stupid brat. Go home and use your brain for once." Zeff mutters with a sigh as he unlocks the door and hustles Sanji protesting out into the cool night air.

Sanji scuffs his boots on the ground outside the restaurant feeling every bit like a misbehaving pet that’s been tossed out for the night. He grudgingly walks home with Zeff's words ringing in his ears. His feelings towards Zoro are complicated. The strongest feelings are the old ones, the ones he's always had to both Zoro's, irritation, grudging respect for his fighting prowess, trust and a mutual habit of pissing each other off. The strongest feeling of all is their bond as nakama, he’s not sure that anything could break that at all. But… there are newer feelings, feelings that feel both new and old because the memories are dated. He’s attracted to this Zoro, there’s not really any denying that now, not after that kiss. And he feels… protective of the man, which is crazy because Zoro is more than capable of protecting himself. But when he learnt about what his other self here had done to Zoro… well, he wanted to hunt down his double and break his face for daring to be so cruel. He also had this tangled mix of affectionate feelings for Zoro, ones that would surface at odd times, he feels a surge of affection when he catches a glimpse of Zoro half asleep in the soft morning light, he feels a happy kind of exasperation when Zoro does something that’s so completely Zoro – like dropping that box on his head this morning.

So what exactly does he feel for the man? He’s not sure there’s a name for ‘a little bit more than nakama, with a massive helping of lust and a worryingly strong affection in odd moments’. He knows what Zeff is getting at, he’s insisting that Sanji loves Zoro. But he’s fairly sure no one’s ever written sonnets or songs over the bizarre kind of relationship that he and Zoro have; “Gee sometimes you make me want to kick you until your skull caves in, but I’d murder anyone who tried to hurt you in a heartbeat. I’ve no idea how anyone alive can get as lost as you, but you’re selfless and gentle to a fault sometimes. Oh, and also I’d like you to screw me until I scream.” Hardly the stuff of classic love stories there.

So how exactly is he being a coward? If this is what love is then sure, he’s got no problem admitting what he’s feeling although he might go and lodge a complaint against romance novelists for massively misleading him. That’s not cowardice.

He stills with his key half in the lock to his and Zoro’s place, he managed to walk here on auto-pilot. It scares him a little how easy some of these memories are coming to him. He lets that thought roll around in his head like red wine breathing in a glass as he walks through the front door. Perhaps… perhaps Zeff was calling him a coward because of his inability to let go of the supposedly “wrong” memories that he held. Maybe Zeff was under the impression that this was some sort of escapism for him, like his other self’s stupid affairs. If that were true it would be cowardice. But, he knows in his bones that his world is real, that his old memories are real. So Zeff, for all his old man wisdom, is wrong.

Sanji stretches his body out in the middle of the living room, standing on his bare tiptoes and stretching as high as he can, stretching one leg behind him and bending it until he can get his toes to touch the back of his shoulder. When he finally feels stretched and limber he clicks the main light off and pads in the dark to the bedroom. He shucks off his clothes and slips on pyjama pants and settles into bed with the idea of waiting for Zoro to get home.

To pass the time he plays with his newfound gadgety phone, it’s really not that hard to use and he’s remembering it as he goes. He’s got tonnes of photos of his friends and his nakama. He spies a considerably more human looking Franky without the metal nose or jagged chin, and whilst his arms are still giant Sanji will bet that there are no cannons in them. There’s also a very amusing video of a VERY drunk Usopp telling the tail end of a very bad story before tripping and falling backwards into a ditch. Eventually he curls up in the dark in bed, not quite sleeping but not quite awake either. It’s one in the morning when Sanji stirs back into wakefulness at the sound of the front door closing.

Sanji perks his ears and listens. The sound of boots being shucked off, the sound of something being dropped on something soft (the sofa perhaps?) and quiet bare footsteps coming closer. The door to the room wasn’t shut so Sanji hears Zoro quietly step around the bed and towards the shower room that’s connected to their bedroom. The door squeaks as it closes and Sanji hears the click of the light inside and sees the slim sliver of light spread across the floor. Cautiously Sanji gets out of bed and sneaks towards the shower room. He can hear the squeak of a tap as it turns on and flowing water, it sounds more like the sink than the shower so he figures that it’s probably safe to go in. Although, in all honesty he’s not sure if he would have refrained from going into the shower room if it had been the shower.

Zoro looks up at him with a startled expression on his face, not the gentle surprised kind of startled either, the kind of startled that usually would lead to Zoro’s swords flying loose. But thankfully this Zoro doesn’t carry swords with him, he does spot that Zoro’s hand is halfway to a rather menacing looking straight razor though. The man’s body visibly relaxes though when he recognises Sanji for who he is.

“Didn’t mean to wake you.” He mumbles and stares back down into the sink which is filling slowly with cold water.

“I didn’t go to sleep, I was waiting up for you.” Sanji replies and, since this isn’t the Zoro that constantly mocks him at every show of weakness, adds: “I was worried. I didn’t expect you to be so late, I thought something bad might have happened.”

“Something did.” Zoro grumbles grimly and shuts off the tap with a little more force than is strictly necessary.

“What-” Sanji starts to say but then spots the gash in Zoro’s upper arm, just above his bicep.

“You’re bleeding!” He exclaims and tarts forward, pulling ruined t-shirt off of the wound which earns him a hiss from Zoro.

“Oh. I got stabbed a little, I’m fine.” Zoro says dismissively and half-heartedly tries to bat him away. Sanji doesn’t lessen his grip on Zoro’s arm though. With a scowl he inspects the wound, it’s a clean cut, fairly shallow, unlikely to have done any muscle damage, slow bleeding now. This wound is probably a few hours old, perhaps older.

“Did you see Chopper for it?” He questions, knowing the answer already. Chopper would never have let Zoro leave his hospital with a wound open and un-bandaged like that. Zoro at least has the decency to look meek at that, it seems that no Zoro likes disappointing or stressing out the little doctor, however reindeer-like he may or may not be.

“Sit down, shut up, I’m cleaning that wound.” He orders snappishly and points Zoro in the direction of the shut toilet. It only takes a few seconds of rifling through the medicine cabinet on the wall to acquire his tools. He peels the shirt off of the sullen looking Zoro and chucks it to the side. He inspects the wound again closely, he’s brought tweezers to remove any debris in the wound but surprisingly there is none. Instead he switches to dousing a cotton ball in antiseptic and gently washing the wound, Zoro barely winces and instead just stares deadly into the middle-distance. A little coil of worry curls in Sanji’s gut.

“This wasn’t the bad thing that happened tonight was it?” He asks quietly and tosses the cotton ball in the bin. He dabs at the wound with a sterile piece of cotton bandage while Zoro shakes his head silently.

“So, tell me what happened.” He presses further.

“I thought I was supposed to be shutting up.” Zoro grumbles. It’s a weak attempt to distract him and Sanji isn’t falling for it, it’s not like Zoro’s putting much effort into it anyway.

“Stop being evasive.” He chides the green-haired idiot and presses a little too firmly with the bandage as punishment.

“I followed Doflamingo for a while. I don’t know when he spotted me, I was being so careful. But he didn’t take me anywhere useful. He did however lead me into an ambush he’d somehow set up for me. Nine guys with knives half crazy from drugs and half crazy from fear of Doflamingo.” Zoro explains with less of an air of reluctance than Sanji had expected.

“You won of course.” Sanji adds with a nod as he unravels clean bandage.

“Mmm. I got cut though, I was distracted by Doflamingo and his fucking creepy smile. He told me that there were consequences for trying to stop him, then he disappeared before I could put all of the guys who attacked me down.” The swordsman frowns. Sanji feels his lips quirk in a smile at that, Zoro has always been so self critical. A guy nearly cuts you with a sword? Extra weight training for a week! Someone manages to stab you in a fight? Ignore medical advice and do hours of sword stances and routines on deck in the cold! Stupid marimo.

“Everyone makes mistakes. What did the psychopath have to say?” he asks and starts wrapping the bandage around Zoro’s arm. Tight but not too tight, he wants to put pressure on the wound but not cut off circulation.

“He said that trying to stop him would be punished, he said I’d regret following him.” Zoro explains in a cold tone of voice. Sanji sits back on his haunches and looks up at Zoro, the man looks wrung out and tired, he’s even starting to develop a shiner on his left eye. One of those thugs must have clocked him.

“The ambush. He underestimated you.” Sanji grins a little. People tend to underestimate Zoro, if only because they expect him to be human, but Zoro is stronger than humans should have any right to be. As such, Zoro tends to win his fights with ease, much like him and Luffy do.

“That’s what I thought, but no. The ambush was just so he could talk to me without me being able to catch him.” The other man says shaking his head slightly.

Sanji finishes tightening the bandage and sits back to give Zoro a little space so he can look at him properly. There’s a muscle dancing with tension in Zoro’s cheek and he takes a few steadying breaths before speaking again.

“That kid I was looking for? The one that went missing. I found him.” Zoro says slowly.

“Oh!” Sanji exclaims happily and then he clocks Zoro’s expression and puts two and two together.

“Oh. Oh...” Sanji winces. Not good news about the kid.

“The kid came from a poor family and there’s a drug cartel around there that have a habit of getting kids like him hooked on things and then denying them their supply until they agree to become pretty much slaves of the cartel, making deliveries, transporting, even smuggling. That’s what happened to this kid. I’ve been trying to track him down in the hope that I could get him out and get him off of the stuff and back to his family.” Zoro explains quietly.

“I knew that Doflamingo controlled that gang, he does most of them. That’s why I tailed him today, if I could shut him down then the rest would fall without him. Doflamingo doesn’t appreciate being threatened like that. So he killed the kid I was looking for, left his body outside the police station with one of my buisness cards stuck to him and a warning written on it.” Zoro grimaces and scrubs a hand through his hair tensely.

“Holy shit! You were right, this guy is a complete psycho. What’re you gonna do about him now?” Sanji breathes in wide eyed shock, he can’t imagine what Zoro must have felt when he found this kid, or when he was told about him. All he can think is that he’s fucking glad that he’s not Doflamingo right now, a vengeful Zoro is an incredibly rare but terrfying thing.

“Nothing. I’m not going to do anything.” Zoro answers cutting through Sanji’s thoughts like a hot knife through butter.

Sanji actually sits in stunned silence for a few moments, staring at Zoro with his head in his hands in despair. Did… did Zoro just say what he thinks he said?

“What?” he asks numbly.

“I’m not going to do anything, I can’t put more people at risk like that. I had to tell that kid’s family that their son was dead, knowing the whole time that it was my fault. If it weren’t for me the kid would still be alive now. I did this.” Zoro says shakily, touching the forming bruise on his cheekbone. Sanji realises quickly that this bruise wasn’t from the ambush it was from a family member of this kid, outraged and grief stricken for the poor dead kid that they decided to swing for Zoro, someone they could blame, and Zoro let them. Zoro would.

“This isn’t your fault, you didn’t kill that kid. Doflamingo did. Doflamingo would have killed him when he became usless to him anyway, or just because he felt like it. You tried your best to save this kid when no one else could, don’t let that bastard make you feel like this is your fault, that’s what he wants. Don’t beat yourself up over this, get mad, get even! Go and make Doflamingo’s life hell in whatever way you can!” Sanji snaps, grabbing Zoro’s forearms and shaking him sharply.

Zoro’s dark amber eyes lock with his but the other man doesn’t waver or look away so Sanji doesn’t either. He squares his jaw and stares Zoro down, the Zoro he knows is so used to dealing with shit like this that it’s easy to forget that this Zoro isn’t as hard on the outside. It’s a good thing a lot of the time, it’s what’s helped him actually get to know the man since he’s been here, but now he can see that Zoro’s on the fence between letting Doflamingo win because it’s less violent and fighting for what’s right. He can’t let Zoro make the wrong choice here.

“Get mad.” He repeats firmly.

“How is that going to help? The kid will still be dead whether I’m mad or not.” Zoro mutters looking away.

“It’ll help because if you keep this inside you and don’t get mad then this’ll kill you. Then you’ll be no help to anyone, much less in taking down Doflamingo.” Sanji snaps.

Zoro scowls but doesn’t move. Sanji rolls his eyes, the Zoro that he remembers wouldn’t even have had this conversation with him, they’d already be brawling. It’s stupid but it’s stress relief, it’s getting the anger and hurt out on someone you can count on to be there. If this had happened to Zoro back on the Sunny he’d have deliberately provoked Zoro already to fight, that was if Zoro hadn’t already attacked him for just daring to be alive near him. It was dumb but it was the only emotional connection he and Zoro really shared. This Zoro however seemed to need a little more of a push. Speaking of…

Sanji reaches out and shoves Zoro hard in the chest. The stunned swordsman stumbles back in surprise before catching himself with his elbow on a towel rail. He gets shot a ‘what the hell asshole?’ look from Zoro.

“Come on, fight me. Let it out. Or are you scared that you’ll lose three fights in one day? Are you really done already?” Sanji goads shoving him again.

“Cut it out.” Zoro snaps swatting Sanji’s arm away hard. Sanji shakes his wrist out, that was pretty hard, time to stop fighting with his hands if he knows what’s good for him.

“Hey, I’m half asleep here and I could kick your ass six ways to Sunday. What good are you to anyone if you can’t even fight me? How the hell are you going to protect anyone like this?” he presses loudly.

“You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!” Zoro yells clenching his fist and shoving Sanji backwards towards the door. Sanji twists one foot to ground himself and shoves Zoro back hard with his other foot.

“Pathetic, helpless, useless marimo.” Sanji sneers and twists his bare toes painfully in Zoro’s solar plexus.

He can see the moment when Zoro snaps almost in slow motion. His eyes darken and he looks like a picture perfect copy of the Zoro that Sanji has fought a hundred times before. Sanji darts right well in time to duck the fist coming his way, he’s always been quicker on his feet than Zoro. He darts out of the bathroom into the bedroom where there’s more space. He twists on his feet to face Zoro again who is framed like a demon in the doorway.

He tilts his balance to the balls of his feet, light and bouncy with his muscles ready to kick. He watches Zoro’s movements, his feet especially, the man’s never been great at hiding his movements with his feet, he thinks too much of his swords. But since Zoro is unarmed this fight should be a relative cakewalk, even if he is barefoot as well.

Zoro lunges for him with a feral snarl and Sanji spins to the side and kicks Zoro hard in the back of the thigh. Zoro stumbles slightly, the nerve going momentarily numb, he quickly compensates though and lashes backwards with an elbow that catches Sanji in the shoulder slightly. It knocks him backwards and gives him the range he needs to truly go on the offensive. He gets a quick kick into Zoro’s ribs, hard enough to bruise but not hard enough to break or fracture. He wants to hurt Zoro but he doesn’t want to hurt him.

Zoro grunts at the kick and lashes for Sanji with a fist that goes wide, Sanji thinks it’s a punch gone wide until it’s too late. Zoro’s arm is around his throat and suddenly Zoro’s behind him with a sharp knee in Sanji’s kidneys. He lets go of him and kicks him across the room. Sanji skids across the room stunned. He spins to a halt crouched low as he presses a palm to his kidneys and fights the brief urge to vomit that always comes with a hit like that.

“Where the fuck did you learn to do that?” He gasps straightening up. He’s never seen Zoro fight like that, unarmed Zoro is more of the ‘punch you in the face’ school of thought than clotheslining a man and kneeing him.

“From you. I do it better.” Zoro grins darkly.

“We’ll see about that.” Sanji laughs impressed and flings the bedsheet from the bed behind him at Zoro and kicks the man hard in the side of the knee whilst he’s distracted. He dodges the blind right and drives a kick into Zoro’s sternum, he softens his foot to dissapate the blow, again he wants to stun Zoro not send his ribs through his heart. Zoro manages to grab his leg however and swing him into the wardrobe door with a crash. He’s dazed for a second and Zoro jabs a fist quickly into his side before Sanji has a chance to dance back away from him.

Zoro throws himself at Sanji before he manages to retreat enough and throws the pair of them to the ground. Sanji cracks his elbow painfully as he lands with Zoro’s weight on top of him. He tries to squirm back away from Zoro but the man’s hands are pinned on either side of Sanji’s head. Vainly he buries his knee in Zoro’s side and twists it painfully. Zoro moves quickly and gets his left knee pressed into Sanji’s other leg, effectively holding him down as his right hand snags Sanji’s knee and pulls it out of his side.

There’s a beat when their eyes meet and they both stop moving. They’re both breathing hard and Zoro is right above him throwing off heat like a furnace. He’s thrumming with adrenaline from the fight and he can’t quite decide whether he wants to try to attack Zoro again by jabbing an elbow in his side or to grab him and kiss him. Zoro makes the decision for him though when his hand on Sanji's knee slackens and his eyes darken. Zoro's hand slides up Sanji's thigh from his knee in a way that makes the cook's stomach flutter, he arches his back appreciatively when the swordsman's large warm hand moves higher to span his hip with his fingers curling around to Sanji's bare back. Zoro pauses suddenly though and glances down at Sanji with worried eyes.

"Are you... okay? I mean, I know things have been a little more normal the last few days but I don't want to..." Zoro says in a rush. Sanji rolls his eyes and digs his heel into Zoro sciatic nerve threateningly.

"Shut up and fucking touch me before I kick your dumb ass." he insists and knocks one of Zoro's supporting arms away, dropping Zoro's warm expansive skin closer to him.

"That sounds more like the Sanji I know." Zoro chuckles in his ear. Sanji groans in frustration and digs his heel into Zoro's nerve a little more to encourage Zoro to GET ON WITH IT.

Zoro starts surprisingly softly. If Sanji had spent much time considering how Zoro would start this sort of thing he would have supposed that Zoro would just leap into it in the sort of all or nothing way that he was prone to start arguments. However Sanji had only really thought about this in brief fantasies in the shower alone and he'd both never needed foreplay in his mind in that situation and avoided it anyway because that might involve Zoro talking or being, well, Zoro. And up until now Sanji hadn't been especially enamoured with Zoro as a person.

Zoro wasn't rushing into anything though, he was being steady and careful, running his hands along Sanji's skin with the same attention and care that he's seen Zoro use when maintaining his swords. Zoro's left hand strokes up Sanji's side, his fingers almost dancing up Sanji's ribcage before they slide to the juncture of Sanji's neck and shoulder where the marimo's lips and tongue are busy setting Sanji's nerves on fire. Sanji takes the opportunity to do what he's always been tempted to do and run his hands along Zoro's body. The swordsman's body is hard with the defined slabs of muscle on the plane of his back that speaks of a lifetime of swordsmanship. His front too feels glorious, hard muscle covered with golden polished skin that feels smooth to the touch. The only flaw is the ever present scar down Zoro's chest from collar bone to hip, a permanent visual reminder to Sanji about how Mihawk and Zoro's dream cut through Zoro's life separating Sanji from the parts of Zoro that he's allowed and those that he can't have. But in this world he does have Zoro, every inch of him apparently. And right now Sanji is not going to say no to that offer.

He runs his hands up to Zoro's neck and shoulders and locks his arms behind the marimo's head to pull him down into a kiss. And god, can Zoro ever kiss. Their tongues dance competitively and whilst Zoro seems infinitely familiar with Sanji's mouth Zoro is all new to him. Sanji whines in the back of his throat when Zoro's hand curls into the hair at the back of Sanji's head and tilts his head to deepen the angle of the kiss.

If it didn't feel to damn good Sanji might be more annoyed at the fact that Zoro is three fucking steps ahead of him the whole time, Zoro knows exactly where to stroke and touch to make him feel desperate with need. He supposes Zoro and he have been lovers for years, Zoro does know all of this stuff, it's like he's some sort of black belt in the art of making Sanji so hard he could scream. But Zoro is all new to him and he wants to touch the man everywhere he can!

With a streak of boldness overcoming him Sanji lets his hands stray lower on Zoro's body, turning what was previously just fantasy into memory. Zoro's hips jerk instinctively when Sanji squeezes a couple of fingers below Zoro's belt and into his trousers. The swordsman's breath stutters and Sanji smirks in glee, now things are getting a little more even. He tries to get his hands properly into Zoro's trousers to get his hands on his prize, he wants to feel what Zoro's cock feels likes in his hands, he wants to know if Zoro's skin is as hot everywhere or if it's hotter there, he wants to know if Zoro's hair is green all over. However Zoro's belt and tight waistband are thwarting him in his pursuit of this vital knowledge.

As he's struggling to open Zoro's difficult belt Zoro snags his wrists and in a movement so quick that if Sanji had blinked he might have missed it Zoro whips Sanji's hands above his head and pins them to the floor by his wrists. Zoro's touch quickly turns gentle though, his fingers intertwining with Sanji's, holding him but not hurting his precious hands. He's about to snap at Zoro anyway for stopping him when he's silenced by the swordsman's achingly hot tongue on his nipple. He cries out when Zoro's teeth come into the equation and he feels the swordsman's triumphant smirk against his skin.

"H-hey, that's not fair! You're practically fully dressed and I'm almost naked!" Sanji protests breathlessly.

With a wet sound Zoro detaches himself from Sanji's oversensitive skin and looks up at Sanji with incredibly dark eyes, making something tighten pleasantly in Sanji's stomach.

"Hm, I suppose you're right. There should definitely be less clothes." Zoro rumbles in a voice deepened from arousal.

Zoro kneels up, but instead of removing his own belt and trousers he yanks Sanji's pyjama trousers off in one swift movement. Sanji yelps a protest but Zoro has already descended on him and before Sanji knows what is what his vision goes white as Zoro's hot mouth closes around his dick. Sanji's hips try to jerk forward of their own accord but Zoro's hand is already on his hip hard enough to bruise. He brushes the back of Zoro's throat and when Zoro swallows around him creating brilliant oh-god-yes pressure he's reduced to writhing and cursing incoherently.

He doesn't even have a moment to worry about the fact that he's never done this before with another man because Zoro is giving him what is already the best blowjob of his life and he's barely even started yet. Zoro moves like a dream, his tongue finds every nerve that sets Sanji's skin alight and his hands are leaving white hot trails of pleasure along his thighs and hips as his hands roam freely with an air of familiarity. Sanji actually feels like he might scream and he's never done that or even felt like that before.

"Oh god, Zoro, Zoro, Zoro." he breathes almost like a prayer. He arches and squirms under Zoro desperate for something, anything, he doesn't even know what. Zoro is managing to take him apart so easily that he can't even think straight anymore.

He feels that familiar heat start to burn brightly in his belly and a small part of his brain reminds him that he should really warn Zoro.

"Oh, I'm gonna-" he manages to choke out, but Zoro has already detached his wonderful mouth from him and has his hand instead wrapped unbelievably tightly around Sanji's dick.

He whines and squirms because he's about two quick strokes from a mind blowing orgasm and Zoro's not fucking moving! He swings between begging Zoro to touch him, to stroke him to completion and cursing him for ever being alive and doing this to him.

He tries vainly to finish himself off but Zoro bats away his hands and bites his hip in punishment. Sanji whines because the pain is almost ALMOST enough to finish him but not quite. After what feels like forever but is probably only a few moments the urgency abates a little and Zoro pulls back. There's a clink of Zoro's belt coming open and a hiss of a zip sliding apart.

Despite himself Sanji cranes his neck to see and Zoro is not a disappointing sight at all. He's lived with Zoro for over half a year now so he's seen the man naked before, it's inevitable, but he's never seen him like this. He's never seen Zoro thick and full with flushed red skin contrasting against coarse green hair. Sanji whines needily because he WANTS. Zoro could do anything to him right now and he'd want it, as long as he can feel that part of Zoro on him, against him, in him, anything. He's not fussy he just WANTS it.

Zoro lines his dick up against Sanji's and presses them together. Sanji lets his head fall back and groans in pleasure at that because Zoro's skin is even hotter there and it feels like he's setting Sanji's nerves on fire all over again. Zoro's left hand wraps around them both and slides smoothly down them both. His feet and hands scrabble against the carpet trying to push him up harder against Zoro to get more of that delicious friction.

He hears himself begging, whining and pleading with Zoro to go faster, to let him come now, but Zoro resolutely stays at his slow but firm pace. He feels as if he's going to die from this or drown in need.

He claws his hands into his hair and clenches them he's so SO close and he thinks that if Zoro stops him from coming again he's either going to die or kill Zoro himself. But Zoro doesn't stop him, he instead strokes him into what is unquestionably the strongest orgasm of Sanji's life so far.

Sanji screams in bliss when his orgasm hits him like a tidal wave, Zoro follows seconds after with a curse and Sanji's name on his lips. He shudders with exhaustion and pleasure as Zoro pants against his collar bone and strokes his ribs soothingly. No one's ever made him feel like that before. Sex has always been good for him before but he's never realised that anyone could be made to feel like that, much less that Zoro could do it to him.

"You know," Zoro chuckles breathily, "I'm sure you screaming in my ear on a regular basis isn't good for my hearing."

"You complaining, asshole?" Sanji challenges weakly.

"Hm, no." Zoro grins lopsidedly and pushes himself off of Sanji.

Sanji thinks that he really should make the effort to find out where Zoro has gone, but he’s far too tired and happy to care much. He closes his eyes and grins to himself dopily. He only startles when something warm and wet is dropped against his stomach, he yelps in surprise and looks down at the thing that’s been thrown on him. It’s a clean washcloth, Zoro smirks at his slightly annoyed expression from having stuff dropped on him but he starts to clean his chest and stomach off all the same.

When he glances up at Zoro the man is paused mid stretch, as if an idea has occurred to him and he’s forgotten what he was doing. He looks… sad almost.

“You’re thinking about it again aren’t you? That kid?” Sanji asks quietly as he sits up. Zoro shoots him a guilty look and tries to shrug it off, but Sanji can still see the weight pressed on his mind.

“I’ll stop thinking about it, there’s nothing I can do to fix what’s done. All I can change is what’s not happened yet.” Zoro answers simply, although Sanji would bet money that Zoro’s still going to dwell on this from time to time.

“That’s right.” He agrees anyway.

“Hey, promise me something?” Zoro asks suddenly as he walks over to Sanji and pulls him to his feet.

“Depends what it is.” Sanji replies suspiciously. Zoro has one of those looks on his face, the determined kind that are often followed by him charging off into a fight against all odds because he’s decided it’s the right thing to do, Sanji doesn’t like it.

“Promise me that if you ever, ever, see Doflamingo you’ll just run away. No matter what he says or what he claims, just leave. Even if he says that he’s got me or one of the others, he lies to manipulate people, you can’t trust him. Just… just walk away. I couldn’t bear it if he got to you, and if I am going to try to take him down then I wouldn’t put it past him to try. So promise me.” Zoro insists as he squeezes Sanji’s hand tightly.

Sanji considers this. From what Zoro’s told him about this psycho he probably would lie about something like that to trick him into trying to exchange his life for one of the others. And if he isn’t lying then he doesn’t have to promise Zoro that he won’t hunt him down if he finds out that he does have someone he cares about, that’s not part of the bargain. All he has to promise is that he won’t fall for any bait if Doflamingo does try to entice him into following him, which seems reasonable.

“Okay.” He agrees with a nod. Zoro’s face breaks into a picture of relief and with a grin he tugs Sanji naked and into bed with him.

Sanji curls up in Zoro’s arms and relaxes, he waits for sleep to come and claim him. Even in his tired and post-coital state he can’t just fall into unconsiousness as easy as Zoro who is already snoring softly behind him. His eyes feel heavy and in his half asleep state he almost feels as if he’s falling backwards into nothingness.

He’s aware vaugely of feeling uncomfortable and slightly cold and damp, his mouth tastes like salt water enough to make him want to retch a little. He hears… Zoro’s voice, shouting something. There’s a sensation of movement and then a shoulder in his stomach. Zoro’s walking, carrying him even. He really tries to open his eyes but he’s so tired. His hand thunks against three sword hilts with each step that Zoro takes.

“I found him.” He hears Zoro say before he falls into unconsiousness again.


	11. Chapter 11

Sanji wakes slowly and rolls to his side, he’s abruptly startled into complete wakefulness however when he falls suddenly and lands painfully on the floor on his knees and his right elbow. He curses and rolls over onto his back.

It takes him a few moments of staring up blankly at the wooden beams of the ceiling before he realises where he is. The flat doesn’t have a ceiling like that, but the Thousand Sunny does! With a gasp he sits upright and takes in the room around him, hammocks strung up together, locking cupboards against the walls and a low table with comfy cushions around it. Against the wall is a sofa with a sleeping reindeer curled up in it.

Sanji actually laughs out loud from the relief, he’s home. He hadn’t been going nuts, he knew that this world couldn’t possibly have just been something he imagined, his life was real and his past was real. He’d got so used to the world that he’d been experiencing that he’d actually thought that he was sleeping in a bed rather than a hammock! Well, the bruises on his knees and elbows would keep reminding him. Gleefully he dashes over to the sofa and scoops the fuzzy little reindeer up in his arms, startling the doctor awake.

“Chopper! You’re real, I knew it!” He exclaims gleefully spinning the fur ball around in his arms. Chopper awakes rather suddenly and squeals in alarm, his little hooves flailing and pounding at Sanji’s shoulders.

“Aaah! Put me down you bastard!” Chopper wails. Agreeably Sanji puts the reindeer down with a grin and crouches down to eye level with the doctor. After Chopper’s obvious dizziness abates the little doctor starts checking Sanji over. Does he have any bumps to his head? Do you feel nauseous? How many fingers am I holding up? (that one requires a change to a form that has fingers!)

After the little doctor has satisfied his medical obligations in ascertaining that Sanji isn’t about to die horribly any time in the near future he sits back and stares wide eyed at Sanji.

“Where were you? We’ve been looking for you for four days, ever since you just vanished into nothingness in the galley when you ate that flower.” Chopper asks in awe.

“I vanished? Just like… disappeared?” Sanji blinks in surprise. He remembers blackness and falling before waking up in… in what? Had that whole world been a dream or something? It felt almost as real as this world, if not as real. He doubts that he made the whole thing up himself. But still… it clearly wasn’t the real world, this was the real world.

“Yeah, like mist.” Chopper nods worriedly and gives him a concerned look, as if Sanji might evaporate again without warning. Sanji smiles back reassuringly, he has no intentions of vanishing again so the little doctor needn’t worry.

 

The rest of the afternoon goes relatively predictably, everyone bar Zoro proceeds to tell him how much they missed him and how glad they are that he’s back. Quickly they all fall back into a usual routine, the crew is used to dramatic events blowing their sense of normalcy apart and so they’re used to picking right back up where they left quickly. If they didn’t then they’d never experience any normal life. He feels a small pang at that, it’s really not fair that they’re always being attacked or put in danger, he wishes that they could have more time just being nakama. He ignores it though, he’s used to ignoring that particular wishful thought, it’s not as if it’s going to happen is it?

Robin is sitting regarding him with a curious smile as he slices up fruit for a fruit salad for lunch. He’s on the strawberries when Robin asks him the question, slicing off the leafy stems and neatly bisecting the juicy fruit.

“Tell me about the world that you were in, the one you dreamt of.” She asks with a smile. So far he’s fended off questions about where he was with statements like ‘you wouldn’t believe it’ or by sacrificing concessionary details like Brook’s living body or the other version of the Baratie. But Robin’s face is earnest and curious and he really wants to sort out what happened to him, Robin has always been so clearheaded that he can’t resist talking to her.

“It was odd, lots of things were the same, eerily similar. But… some things were completely different.” He says with Zoro’s face flashing through his mind. Robin remains silent but looks interested so he continues.

“It was just so real, I actually started doubting myself. But… neither this world nor that one seemed like something I could just imagine. But I guess I was wrong, I did dream that world.” He says slicing through the red flesh of another strawberry. He remembers the horrible cloying paranoia, not knowing whether he was a madman or truly lost in another world. He feels glad to have his stability back even if he was puzzled by what the lapse in it meant.

“That seer gave you that dream for a reason. It’s clearly to do with whatever it was you wished for. Do you know what that was yet?” Robin asks with an interested little look.

Sanji considers this, he’d given a little thought whilst he was in the other world, or dreaming that he was there at least. But he’d not worked it out then, and it didn’t seem anymore enlightening now either.

“I’ve no idea what my wish was.” He states shaking his head.

“You should pay attention to what was different, or what stood out the most. That’s what you’re supposed to do on a dream walk.” Robin states knowledgeably and passes him a pitcher of fruit juice for his fruit salad with a disembodied arm.

“What’s a dream walk?” Sanji blinks in confusion, Robin with her brilliant intellect has lost him once again.

“A dream walk,” Robin begins to explain, “is a method used by some cultures to aid enlightenment or understanding. It’s a spiritual ritual, deeply connected with the soul. Usually it’s brought on by hallucinogenic substances and a meditative trance-like state. Although I suppose a magic flower from an island that ate a devil’s fruit is similar enough.”

Sanji considers this carefully. The experience certainly was enlightening, but it wasn’t some kind of trippy dream that made no sense, it was just… some other world, with ordinary days and routines like any other. Still, perhaps Robin had a point and the differences could be put down to the devil’s fruit being more “magical” than meditation and hallucination.

What were the differences between the two worlds? Zoro was the most obvious difference, the attitude of the man was entirely different. That Zoro was gentle and more even tempered, but it seemed that in the past he had been like the Zoro that Sanji knows now, perhaps he was supposed to infer that he could have the Zoro that he dreamt of if he gave this Zoro a chance.

“There was one thing that stood out, but if that was the whole point then I don’t understand why there were so many other differences. I mean, Zeff was there, there was another version of the Baratie. I can’t see what that had to do with that… difference.” He muses in a deliberately vague way. If the whole thing was just some metaphor for him reconsidering his relationship with Zoro then it was a rather overcomplicated one.

“Well, did Zeff give you advice? If so perhaps he was some sort of spirit guide. Something that appears in the form of something you trust to guide you to the message.” Robin suggests with an air of intrigue.

He supposes that it is a plausible idea, Zeff certainly did seem to be guiding him towards Zoro and it is true that he certainly would be more receptive to advice from the man who is the closest thing to a father that he has than anyone else. Maybe Robin is onto something here.

“Perhaps it would be wise to act on that dream then. I’ll tell Zoro that it’s his turn to wash up after lunch then, hm?” She says standing up.

Sanji jolts at that, how did she know about Zoro? He’d certainly not said anything, he’d not even indicated that the big difference in his dream world was a person, especially not Zoro. He realises too late at Robin’s catlike smile that she didn’t know at all, but she did now. If he didn’t think so highly of Robin he might agree with Zoro’s frequent accusations of her being underhanded and devious. Things certainly were bad if he was agreeing with the moss-head about women.

“Ah, sure. If it’s his turn of course, I’ve lost track with being away.” Sanji lies smoothly, he doesn’t usually approve of lying to ladies but- his mind is suddenly called back to Zoro calling him out about lying to the receptionist at the hospital. He remembers even then finding Zoro’s proximity a little… unsettling but… pleasant in an odd way.

“I always thought that the two of you had a surprising amount of friction between you.” Robin says over her shoulder at the door, a smirk playing on her lips.

“Or perhaps I was wrong, perhaps you two needed more friction.” She grins slyly and disappears.

A few moments later Sanji manages to shut his open mouth. Robin did not just leave him with an innuendo about Zoro and friction and he was a terrible person for interpreting her innocent words so filthily. His delightful Robin would never be so… obvious. As a punishment for thinking such things he decides that he’ll make meringues the hard way, by whisking with a fork instead of a proper whisk.

 

Lunch is filled with more probing questions about the world that he dreamt of. Instead of answering specific questions he shares Robin’s dream walk theory which thankfully steers the crew into musings about whether he actually went to some dream world or just went elsewhere and slept for days before being dumped on the beach where Zoro found him. Sanji is happy with this conversation; it saves him from accidentally saying too much. Robin of course asks no more questions, she already knows more than he meant her to. And Zoro asks nothing either, he either doesn’t care or doesn’t have anything to say.

Sanji considers that, usually he’d think that Zoro just doesn’t give a damn and was just being an antisocial bastard but… now he didn’t know what to think. Perhaps Zoro was actually just slightly shy, perhaps he was worried about saying the wrong thing. The man didn’t look worried though, maybe he just didn’t care where Sanji had been as long as he was back now. According to Luffy Zoro had been looking for him every day along with most of the rest of the crew, and it was Zoro who found him so he knows that the man had looked. He did wonder how long it had taken him to get them to the safety of the ship when he was out cold on Zoro’s shoulder, goodness knows that the man probably got lost three times on the way there.

In some sort of twisted way Zoro and he are perfect for each other, he doesn’t have to worry about breaking the other man and he has to admit that he does enjoy fighting with Zoro. In fact he finds a somewhat disturbing amount of glee in winding the man up and infuriating him. He wonders that if like Zoro he was just “pulling pigtails” to get some kind of reaction out other the other. Were they both just complete idiots? Well, there wouldn’t be any more of that going on!

 

With lunch finished Zoro helps him clear the table, apparently Robin had given him her message earlier and convinced him that it was somehow his turn to help clear up. Sanji knew that it wasn’t, It was Usopp’s turn, he’d worked it out in his head. But he wasn’t going to turn down an opportunity like this.

He lets the sink fill with warm water and soapy bubbles as he tries to consider his next move. In the dream he got the memory that Zoro was the one who started this process, but now it would have to be him. If Zoro was going to make a move on him like he had in his dream/memory/thing then he would have done it by now, so the responsibility is on Sanji to start things rolling. Zoro leans past him to place dirty dishes on the counter top by Sanji’s right hand for washing and breaking his train of thought as he does so.

“Thanks.” Sanji offers with a smile. Zoro looks at him blankly as if Sanji might have forgotten who he’s talking to, Sanji suspects that if there was someone else in the room but the two of them that Zoro might have looked over his shoulder to see who he was talking to. After shooting him a perplexed look Zoro walks off again to get more dishes.

Sanji glowers at the soapy water and starts washing. That didn’t go well. Does he really say pleasant things to Zoro so rarely that the marimo has to look at him like he’s hit his head or something? Zoro returns with the almost empty fruit salad bowl. There’s still some juice in the bottom and a few stray blueberries that Luffy didn’t manage to cram into his gaping maw. Zoro seems to consider it for a second before just tilting the whole bowl back and swallowing its contents. His adams apple bobs appealingly and a droplet of red juice races down his throat, Sanji viciously stamps down on the temptation to lick it off of Zoro. He’ll have that privilege later but not until he mans up and gets this out with Zoro.

“So,” he says with a cough, looking away so Zoro doesn’t catch him staring when he puts the bowl down. “about my dream.”

“Don’t care.” Zoro remarks roughly and dumps the bowl into the sink, sloshing warm water on Sanji’s shirt. The cook bats away his rage and tries for reason instead.

“What do you mean you don’t care?” He asks in as close to a neutral tone as he can manage, instead of kicking Zoro in the head for getting his shirt wet.

“I mean I don’t care, genius. If it was a dream then it was a dream, it doesn’t mean squat. And even if it did it’s not like it concerns me is it? So, I don’t care.” Zoro explains as if he was talking to a dumb animal or an especially dense child… or Luffy.

“Well, that’s where you’re wrong asshole. It does concern you, so start caring.” Sanji snipes back. He perhaps should be nicer about this but Zoro is seven kinds of irritating and he’s never had an especially long fuse even with people who weren’t actively trying to aggravate him.

Zoro gives him a quizzical look at that which makes Sanji feel triumphant, the bastard isn’t so clever now is he?

“How, exactly, does it concern me?” Zoro asks challengingly.

Sanji pauses for a few seconds trying to think how best to phrase this, he really should have put more thought into this earlier but he didn’t. How can he explain such a complex thing without Zoro just flat out denying it before he gets more than seconds into his tale? Hell, words could go screw themselves, actions spoke louder!

Resolved he steps closer to Zoro, the other man doesn’t step back, he’s used enough to Sanji invading his personal space as a challenge to not back down. But instead of lashing out like Zoro might have expected he leans in and kisses Zoro instead.

His lips are soft and warm, just like Sanji remembers – just like he dreamt. Zoro gasps against him and Sanji takes the opportunity to press further, running his tongue against Zoro’s lip. However Zoro doesn’t kiss him back, Zoro shoves him away, hard.

Sanji stumbles back and catches himself on the side of the sink. Zoro’s wiping his mouth with the back of his arm and looking horrified and disgusted, as if Sanji had puked on him instead of kissing him.

“What the fuck Zoro?!” Sanji snaps angrily, that wasn’t how that was supposed to go!

“You don’t get to say that! That’s my line!” Zoro shouts back and then because he feels he has to, adds: “What the FUCK Sanji?!”

Sanji winces, okay, perhaps the direct approach wasn’t a good idea. He probably would have reacted the same way in his dream if that Zoro had tried that on him, so he could hardly expect more from Zoro. He calms himself and tries to be understanding.

“Look, I’m sorry if that was a bit… forward. But it’s the best way I could make you understand.” He insists, standing up properly and wiping dish suds onto his apron.

“Understand what?!” Zoro demands angrily, his fists are clenching by his sides and although he’s not going for his swords yet Sanji remembers that he felt a little safer around the unarmed Zoro in his dream.

“That I-” Sanji tries. He shakes his head and tries to think of a better way to explain things.

“Look, I know that this must be hard for you to deal with.” He starts sympathetically.

“Hah, I really don’t think you do.” Zoro laughs bitterly and wipes at his mouth again as if Sanji might have given him something contagious.

“I do! Look, I know you’ve never felt anything for anyone before, sexually I mean.” Sanji specifies, because he doesn’t want to imply that Zoro’s some sort of sociopath. Zoro’s body jerks taut at that and he stares wide eyed at Sanji. Sanji thinks that he can see all of the blood drain out of Zoro’s face leaving him visibly pale. He mouths around words helplessly for a few moments before managing speech.

“Wh-what? How do you know that?” Zoro asks in a fearful voice.

“I know it from my dream, I know okay? And I know that despite all reason I’m that exception, the one person that you’re attracted to. I get that it must be a little disconcerting, really I do but-” He says gently, approaching Zoro slowly. Zoro however steps back, his face a picture of fury.

“What?! So you’re mocking me now? Just because I’m not like you? You bastard!” Zoro snarls inexplicably angrily, Sanji halts at that, he’s no idea why Zoro is so angry.

“You arrogant bastard! You think that just because you find this so easy that you get to mock the one person who doesn’t, who can’t, feel like that for anyone?! You think this is funny?!” the swordsman yells furiously.

“I- what? No! Zoro, listen to me!” Sanji gasps desperately, he grabs Zoro’s arm and looks at him earnestly.

“I’m not mocking you, I’m genuine. This was what I dreamed about, I dreamt about us. It made me realise what I’d been missing all this time, about all that I could have. I’m not just going to ignore that message.” He insists.

The rage fades from Zoro’s eyes and relief washes over Sanji, the man understands that he’s not being cruel. Perhaps now he’ll start feeling again, it’ll probably be a slow process bringing Zoro out of his shell but it’ll be worth it, he knows it. Zoro’s face doesn’t turn to an expression of adoration though, it turns more to… pity.

“I’m sorry, your dream was… just a dream.” Zoro says carefully, taking Sanji’s hand off of him.

“What?” Sanji asks numbly.

“I don’t know why you dreamt what you did, but it’s not real. I don’t feel that way about you, about anyone. It’s not personal Sanji.” Zoro says quietly. He looks away and bites his lip guiltily.

“For what it’s worth, despite how annoying you are you’d probably be a good person to feel… something for. But I don’t, I can’t. I’m just not made that way Sanji.” Zoro adds gently.

“I- but… no. That’s not right, that’s not how this was supposed to go. I’m different.” Sanji pleads quietly. Zoro just shakes his head no. Sanji distantly feels himself panicking, this has to be wrong, Zoro has to be mistaken somehow. He just needs to show him that he’s wrong, he needs to prove it to him. His mind races back to the night in the shop, when he tested Zoro to get him to prove that he really was the only exception. Yes! That was what he needed to do! Except this time it was he who was proving something to Zoro, not the other way around!

Desperately he pulls off his apron and starts quickly unbuttoning his shirt, cursing the amount of buttons. Zoro catches his hands halfway down though.

“Sanji, stop. Please.” Zoro insists. The unspoken ‘you’re embarrassing yourself’ hangs loudly but unsaid in the air. Sanji freezes, the confusion and hurt thrumming in his veins. Zoro’s eyes aren’t dark with lust, his cheeks aren’t red and he doesn’t look in any way interested. Instead he looks… concerned.

“I don’t understand.” He says in a small voice, feeling vulnerable and cold. Zoro lets go of his wrists leaving him feeling small and alone.

“I- sorry.” Zoro mutters and slides past Sanji and out the galley door.

Sanji slides down the kitchen counter and stares unseeingly at the floor. Why… why would this happen? If Zoro had continued being angry then Sanji could have put the man’s denial of feelings down to panic or fear. But this… this was different. Zoro had been calm, genuine. He’d sounded almost… sorry for him. Zoro hadn’t been lying, he’d not been deceiving Sanji or himself with his words. His dream had just been that, a pointless heartbreaking dream. What was the point of that stupid dream if it didn’t mean anything? Why would that woman show him such a thing only to yank it away and leave him in a world where it wasn’t possible? How could someone be so cruel?

He dries his eyes, not that he remembers tears falling, and angrily stands up, he buttons his shirt furiously and storms out of the kitchen. Zoro is sitting at the other end of the ship and his eyes widen in panic a little when he sees Sanji storming out of the kitchen, but the marimo need not worry he’s not his target right now. He stomps off of the boat ignoring shouted questions from his nakama as he heads to the middle of the island.

He strides angrily through the temple archway, no longer having time to admire the flowers or the beautiful architecture; even the pretty temple women don’t distract him. He arrives at the fountain in the courtyard. The Oracle girl is sitting there with her legs folded on the edge of the fountain, looking down distantly into the water. In her hair is a golden lotus with several missing petals.

“Hm, Sanji.” She says dreamily as she looks up at him, once again she looks half awake. With a small smile she tilts her head at him.

“I suppose I should be glad that you don’t hurt women, hm?” She says with a small laugh.

“You think this is funny? Why would you do this to me?” He asks sitting down by her. All his anger has washed out of him now, leaving him feeling just hurt and deflated. He wanted to scream at her, to call her a heartless bitch but now… now he just feels like crying.

“You did this to yourself. It worries me that your own soul is so alien to you that you can’t even read yourself.” She says disdainfully and looks back into the water with a sad expression, her eyes becoming distant again.

“I don’t understand.” Sanji whines unhappily. The Oracle tuts and rolls her eyes at him, reminding Sanji once again that despite her otherworldly nature and wise statements she’s still young.

“Why,” she prompts, “did I grant your wish?”

Again with people talking to him like he’s an idiot? Still, she looks at him intently and Sanji obligingly searches his memory before venturing forth with an answer.

“Because… because it was the only one that wouldn’t end terribly, and it was selfless.” He answers carefully.

“Bingo. Now, is wanting to bone your nakama a selfless wish?” She asks looking back down into the waters, her eyes un-focusing again.

“I- that’s not what I wished for.” Sanji protests feeling offended.

“No it’s not.” She agrees without looking up at him.

“I… I must have wished for love. Zoro loved me there, and I-” He starts but is cut off by an irritated sigh from her.

“Love, whilst it is a common thing to wish for is neither selfless nor what you wished for. Your wish was special, noble. Zoro’s behaviour there was… a side effect of that. Not unintended, but not the main aim.” She explains in an exasperated voice.

“So… this Zoro, the one in this world, doesn’t-” Sanji trails off already sensing the answer.

“I fell for someone that wasn’t even real.” Sanji whines to himself pitifully. As much as it pained him to admit it he had fallen for Zoro, or the imaginary Zoro anyway. A Zoro that could love him back, a Zoro that loved him despite his faults, despite his mistakes. He’d vowed to himself that he’d never make those mistakes with the real Zoro and now he wouldn’t even get a chance to try because that Zoro wasn’t real and the real one felt nothing for him but pity.

“What do you mean ‘not real’?” The Oracle asks looking at him in wide eyed confusion.

“You made it all up, he’s not real. You created him.” Sanji says accusatorially.

“I made him yes, I made that whole world. But that doesn’t make it not real. You make food from ingredients, your meals exist where before they didn’t, are they ‘not real’?” She snorts derisively.

“I don’t make food from nothing! And this world was here first, this world is the real one. Even if you made that one from something, from the devil’s fruit power or whatever it’s still not the real world!” he insists desperately.

“Real is a matter of perspective. How do you know that this world isn’t someone’s dream or someone else’s creation? How do you know that the people of the world that you were in aren’t real and you’re not just having some psychosis induced dream?” she says distantly with a sad look into the fountain.

“I refuse to believe that!” He states stubbornly standing up. He wasn’t going to have any more of this self-doubt, he was leaving!

“That world didn’t just stop existing because you popped out of it you know, no more so than this one did. The things Zoro feels, they’re as real as your emotions.” She says halting him in his tracks.

“It pains me to see him like this.” She comments sadly looking into the fountain.

Against his better judgement Sanji halts at her words. He glances at the fountain but it’s empty, or rather, all it contains is water.

“What are you talking about?” He questions, moving closer. She huffs irritatedly and breaks eye contact with the fountain to look up at him. She plucks the golden lotus from her hair which Sanji now realises is the one that he bit the petals off of.

“Look and, for once in your life, see.” She says mysteriously before blowing a puff of lotus pollen into his eyes. Before he can touch his eyes she pulls him closer to the fountain by the back of his neck until his head is almost in the water. Before his eyes the water seems to still and slow in its movements and he can see… colours, shapes. He can see… Zoro.

Zoro dashes along the pavement, nearly knocking an old woman over in his haste. He doesn’t notice though and instead bursts into a bar, he glances around the room and, in the desperate panic that seems to consume him, runs out again. He skids to a halt another ten meters down the road as a ringing sound fills his ears and shoves a hand into his pocket. He pulls out a phone and taps the screen, bringing it to his ear.

“Usopp! Tell me you’ve found him! Tell me he’s alive!” Zoro shouts desperately into the phone.

Sanji can hear his voice as clear as day, as if he were right next to him.

“No…” Zoro whines crestfallen, his hand tangling in his hair in stress.

“Sorry doesn’t-” Zoro starts to snap but the voice on the other end of the phone stops him.

“Right, I’ll take SoHo next then, the two of you can take Westminster and we’ll meet in Southwark. Find him!” Zoro orders and hangs up. He takes a shuddering breath and dashes back down the street the way he was running earlier.

Sanji gasps and shakes his head as the vision fades from his view and the water becomes water again. He’s never seen Zoro look so utterly terrified before, so panicked and worried. Even in the hospital Zoro was calmer than that. He struggles with a shaky breath and tries to get his head back into the right place.

When he looks back up at the Oracle the golden lotus is between her fingers, spinning slowly as she rubs the stem between her index finger and thumb.

“The wish isn’t done yet you know. You can still go back, find out your wish and take it if you want.” She offers holding out the golden flower to him.

“Or, you could reject your wish and never return. Never knowing what it was. Whatever you do, do it soon. I can’t stand to keep watching him like that, he’s been in that state since he woke up without you there.” She says distantly glancing down into the water again.

The idea hits Sanji fully then. When he awoke in this world Zoro must have awoken in his with a suddenly empty bed, and given last night’s events what must he have thought? He must be terrified, thinking that Doflamingo had stolen him away in the night to murder him or torture him as punishment for Zoro. Almost unthinkingly he snatches the lotus from the Oracle and bites a large chunk of petals from it. Almost immediately blackness surrounds his vision and the falling sensation returns, he falls into nothingness and, he hopes, towards Zoro. His Zoro.


	12. Chapter 12

Sanji has woken up many times not knowing where he was exactly, there were various things that had caused this over the years; going home with pretty girls, too much booze, knocked out in a fight. However magic flowers was a relatively new addition to that list. This also managed to rank pretty high up on the list of places that he’d hate to wake up in.

He was leaning slumped against a dumpster, a particularly sticky and foul smelling dumpster. As he gathered his wits about him and rubbed his aching head he became aware of two people leaning over him.

“Hey, he’s waking up.” One says to the other. Sanji groans and opens his eyes properly and focuses on the two people. They look like an unfavourable sort and the type that pirates consider unfavourable are usually pretty rough.

“Think he’s got any money on him? He looks pretty fancy in that suit.” The other asks with a sniff. He spits absently on the ground next to Sanji and the cook’s already low opinion of the pair drops further.

“Fuck off.” Sanji groans out as he sits up unsteadily. Unperturbed the second thug leans in and has an experimental rifle through Sanji’s jacket pockets for a wallet or something of value. Sanji’s actually so stunned by the man’s brazen attitude that for a few seconds he doesn’t react.

“I said fuck OFF!” He yells kicking the two guys clean out of the alleyway without much effort. They fly in an impressive little arc before landing cursing on the pavement. They give him an evil look but know that Sanji is worth more effort and risk than is worth the potential reward.

“Losers.” Sanji mutters to himself and inspects his suit, the jacket looks okay if a little un-specifically sticky at the back with something that Sanji doesn’t want to find out more about. His trousers look okay if a little scuffed. He’s trying to inspect the back of his own trousers with a little difficulty, as flexible as he is even he has a little trouble looking at his own butt, when a familiar voice jolts him.

“Sanji?”

He glances up and sees Luffy peering quizzically around the corner of the alleyway at him. Well, it is Luffy and it isn’t. Although his shorts and straw hat remain the same the rest of his clothes are different, he’s got a bright red t-shirt on with a picture of a smiling hamburger on it and flat red and white shoes with a white plastic cover over the toes and stars on the ankles.

“Luffy.” Sanji says surprised. He’s not seen this world’s version of Luffy yet, he’s aware that he’d been travelling with Robin and hadn’t been able to see him before he disappeared back to his own world.

“SANJI!” Luffy yelps excitedly and launches himself at him. Sanji stumbles backwards dropping his jacket in his surprise and gets his clean shirt pressed against the sticky dumpster for his trouble. Luffy’s arms are wrapped around him in a bone crunching hug and the boy is babbling about how worried everyone has been about him and how long he’s been looking for him, eventually Luffy starts going on about how much he’s missed his food and it’s not fair of Sanji to disappear like that when he’s hungry. Ignoring Luffy’s babbling Sanji experimentally touches Luffy’s skin. Despite his normal appearance Luffy is a rubber man and if you’re looking for it you can tell by the feel of his skin. It’s not exactly like touching someone wearing latex gloves, Luffy does have body hair after all - fine and downy like a girl for the most part - but you can still feel the rubber skin. This Luffy however just feels like a normal person, of course he does, he’s not eaten a magical fruit and become more than human.

“I’ve got to call Zoro! He’ll be so happy!” Luffy exclaims pulling back from Sanji and retrieving a phone from his pocket. He dials a number by heart and presses the phone to his ear. Sanji only gets to hear one side of the conversation but it’s telling nonetheless.

“Zoro, it’s me. I’ve found Sanji! I- yeah, he’s fine. We’re about a mile from the Baratie, near that little antique place with the maps that Nami loves. Nah he’s cool, he was just kicking some guys about when I found him. He-yeah? Okay see you in a few then.”

Luffy turns back to him with a big grin evidently pleased to have found him.

“Zoro said to wait here, he’ll be here as soon as he can.” Luffy explains as he puts his phone back in his pocket. Sanji nods mutely, he doesn’t quite know what to say. He can’t exactly explain where he’s been without sounding nuts and he wants to tell Zoro first before anyone else and knowing the marimo he probably isn’t going to take it well. He can’t pretend that he’s sick or something, or that he lost his mind but he certainly doesn’t want Luffy to think that he just waltzed out on Zoro for no reason and made him sick with worry.

“You are okay right?” Luffy finally asks, giving him an assessing look.

“Yeah, I feel fine.” He answers with a nod. Leaving the two of them standing in silence again.

“You had everyone pretty worried you know.” Luffy says slowly, giving him a sideways look. Sanji doesn’t like his expression, it’s that rare serious look that Luffy gets from time to time when something important is going down.

“I- yeah, I figured. It wasn’t deliberate, I wouldn’t just leave like that.” He insists hastily.

“Don’t be stupid, I knew that. I know you.” Luffy says giving him an earnest look and clapping him soundly on the shoulder reassuringly.

Sanji’s ears pick up a screech of tyres and an engine in the distance, not an unusual sound in this city, he’d gotten used to that pretty quickly, so really it shouldn’t attract his attention. And yet there’s something specific about that sound that’s got Sanji’s ears all perked up. He hears a yell and some curses and distantly a man yelling for someone to drive on the road instead.

Luffy grins, wide and manic, and steps out of the mouth of the alleyway and onto the street properly. He waves and in a second has to jump back as a green blur skids sideways into view. The green bike is still rumbling loudly but its rider is already dismounting in a hurry, all arms and legs in a tangle from moving too urgently. The helmet is yanked off and beneath it Zoro is revealed. His hair is a mess and he’s wide eyed and panting with exertion, he stares at Sanji for a split second before the cook finds himself crushed into an embrace.

If this was the other Zoro Sanji would violently protest, hell, even with this Zoro it wasn’t so long ago that he would have pulled away. But things have changed. Instead Sanji just buries his head into the leather collar of Zoro’s jacket and breathes a sigh of relief as a tension that he hadn’t realised he’d been holding onto washes away.

“Sanji.” Zoro gasps into his ear. The word is ragged as if Zoro had to drag it out of himself painfully, Sanji squeezes Zoro reassuringly, his arms are wrapped around the other man’s back but he manages to pull his arm back and slide it inside Zoro’s leather jacket and under the soft t-shirt underneath. His hand spans Zoro’s hot skin and he strokes a line down Zoro’s back soothingly.

“I’m so sorry.” He apologises quietly. Even if he hadn’t seen Zoro’s anguish in the fountain he can feel it now through ever inch of Zoro’s tense and terrified body. Zoro thought that he had lost him, that Doflamingo had spirited him from under Zoro’s nose and murdered him horribly. He hadn’t left deliberately and he hadn’t known that this world was still going to be here when he left either, still he feels guilty.

Zoro pulls back from him and holds him tightly at the shoulders as if he was afraid that he might disappear again otherwise. His eyes rake over him, not in the way that set that pleasant flutter off in Sanji’s stomach though, Zoro was checking that he was unharmed.

“I’m fine.” He insists gently. After a moment Zoro nods sharply in agreement and his eyes come back up to Sanji’s.

“Where were you?” He asks seriously.

Ah. He’d known that was coming. He’s still not sure how to answer though, he doesn’t want to lie but he’s not sure how well Zoro would take the truth. His reactions to Sanji talking about where he was from ranged from mildly interested to upset and angry. Further to that he doesn’t know how Luffy will react either or how much Luffy knows about what’s happened to him.

“I- I woke up somewhere else. Back where I was from, the place I remembered. The island with the lotuses, the one I told you I remembered.” He says because there’s no point saying anything else.

Zoro looks at him wide eyed obviously wishing that Sanji had said something else, although Sanji can’t imagine what answer he’d prefer. ‘I was abducted by Doflamingo’ would fit Zoro’s worldview better but make the man feel horrible. He wasn’t sure if ‘I was trying to leave you because I’m a bastard’ would be any better either, it might even be worse. After a few tense seconds Zoro nods as if accepting Sanji’s words.

“Right, you’re going to the hospital then.” Zoro states. Sanji opens his mouth to protest but shuts it again right after, there’s clearly no dissuading Zoro from this and if hearing Chopper tell him that he’s medically fine will sort this out then so much the better. He shrugs in agreement, which Zoro is apparently satisfied with.

Zoro turns around to deal with his bike and apparently remembers that Luffy has been here the whole time. Zoro starts forward and grabs Luffy into a tight albeit brief hug.

“Thank you for finding him.” He says reverently.

“Hey, he’s my nakama too.” Luffy laughs slapping Zoro jovially on the back.

“Come on.” Zoro insists tugging Sanji towards his bike. He pulls Sanji’s motorbike jacket out from under the seat of the green menace and manhandles Sanji into it despite his protests that he’s perfectly capable of doing it himself. Before he realises what Zoro’s doing the marimo has put his green helmet on Sanji’s head too.

“Geez your head is big, shouldn’t you be wearing this and me be wearing mine?” Sanji asks feeling the helmet wobble almost comically as he talks.

“I didn’t bring yours, no place to carry it.” He offers by way of explanation and pulls Sanji onto the back of the bike with him. Sanji starts to protest that Zoro should really be wearing this helmet as it’s his bike and it fits him better, but the stubborn marimo deliberately revs the engine of the bike louder every time Sanji tries to speak. Eventually he gives up, no point trying to argue sense into that over protective moron.

 

With hindsight Sanji couldn’t say what was worse, the knuckle whitening ride to the hospital or all the boring waiting around in the hospital for pointless tests that said nothing different than they did last time. Namely that he was fine and there’s no reason that he should be imagining these things. All of that made a lot more sense now that he knew that he wasn’t imagining anything at all, the reason no one could say he was making it up, hallucinating or lying was because he wasn’t.

He’s sprawled out in the waiting room taking up all the aisle space with his long legs when the question occurs to him. It really should have come to him earlier because he’s had plenty of time to think in all the waiting between his battery of tests, right now he’s waiting for his fifth blood test and at this rate he feels like he’s going to leave with more perforations in his skin than a colander. Zoro’s sitting in silence staring disinterestedly at the ceiling so he doesn’t notice the sidelong look that Sanji gives him.

Sanji bites his lip a little before steeling his nerves and leaning forward. He presses a gentle kiss to the edge of Zoro’s jaw and feels the pleased hum rumble through Zoro’s throat.

“Flirting with me won’t convince me to let you skip the rest of your tests you know.” Zoro says in a voice that suggests that he wouldn’t be unhappy if Sanji tried though. Sanji laughs breathily against Zoro’s neck and tilts his head happily when Zoro reaches up to stroke his hair.

“That’s fine. I’m just glad that you’re you and not…” He trails off. Zoro’s hand pauses and he leans back to give Sanji a quizzical look.

“Not who?” Zoro asks with a curious lift of his eyebrow. Sanji squirms under Zoro’s scrutiny because he doesn’t really want to talk about this. He relents though because he knows Zoro, he knows that the other man will just keep pushing and investigating until he knows whatever it is that Sanji is hiding.

“I’m happy that you’re not your other self, the you that I know from my world. When I woke up there I thought this place had just been a big lesson on what I really wanted, what my wish was. I figured that it was you. So… so I followed that advice. I tried to persuade the Zoro in my world to… to see me how you see me. His answer was a pretty definitive no.” Sanji says slowly as he tries not to look at Zoro. This whole thing is fucking embarrassing damn it!

He remembers Zoro’s eyes widening in surprise and then the slightly pitying look, he remembers Zoro trying to be kind about letting him down. He remembers his desperation, how much of a fool he made himself look trying to chase something that he wanted but clearly wasn’t going to have in that world.

Zoro gives him a puzzled sidelong look before giving him a small smile.

“Well I wouldn’t say no. I don’t know why you dreamed what you did when you were… wherever you were when you hallucinated this but it’s not real. We’re real.” He offers reassuringly and scratches his fingers through the hair at the nape of Sanji’s neck comfortingly.

Sanji’s mouth opens and shuts, he doesn’t want to irritate Zoro further by insisting that he wasn’t wandering around London imagining some fantasy world for a day. He knows where he was and that’s what matters. Zoro means well, and Sanji can understand how he’s having such a hard time buying the truth, Sanji himself would be incredulous if someone told him that story. He decides to let it go and press on with his original question, the thing that’s been quietly worrying away at the back of his mind since Zoro shut him down in the real world.

“If I had asked you out before you realised that I was your… exception or whatever. If I’d asked you then instead of later when you were flirting with me about my food, would you have still said yes? I mean, there was a time when you didn’t understand what you felt for me wasn’t there? Do you think you would have changed your mind, that you would have said no but changed your mind later?” Sanji asks frowning at the floor.

He has to hope that the Zoro in his world is going to change his mind, that he’d caught Zoro when he didn’t understand his feelings. But he’d known that Zoro longer than his counterpart and this Zoro had known each other, the night at the Baratie after the fight with Arlong in his memory had only been two months after they met and Zoro agreed to go out with him then. Surely if Zoro was going to become attracted to him in his world it would have happened by now.

“What?” Zoro says slowly.

Sanji rolls his eyes irritatedly, even this Zoro tunes him out and stops listening. He’s about to yell at Zoro and repeat his slightly rambling question when he realises his mistake. He glances up at Zoro who is staring at him intently, the hand in Sanji’s hair is frozen mid-scratch too. He just asked Zoro about a memory that he’s not supposed to have, Zoro doesn’t know that he’d been getting those memories back at all.

Shit.

“You remember that.” Zoro states intently, his eyes narrowing. That’s not a question that he’s asking despite the phrasing. Zoro’s caught him in his lie and pinned him. Sanji really should remember that this Zoro is a private detective, he figures people out for a living, and if he’s anything like the Zoro Sanji knows he’s gonna be damn good at whatever he puts his time into. Well shit, no point lying anymore.

“I- yes.” He admits quietly. Zoro nods slowly and absorbs this information.

“How long have you had your memories back for?” He asks quietly.

“I’ve not got them back. I’ve just been getting… pieces. Little fragments of memories, they come at the oddest times. That’s why I didn’t tell you, I didn’t know if I’d get everything back or if I’d continue getting anything else back at all. I didn’t want to get your hopes up and dash them again. I couldn’t do that to you.” He insists looking Zoro squarely in the eye. Zoro’s eyes narrow dangerously but he’s not yelling, evidently this Zoro has a slightly longer fuse than the Zoro from Sanji’s world.

“Alright. I get that. I don’t agree at all mind you, but I see why.” Zoro concedes, his dangerous expression fading.

“So?” Sanji prompts. Just because Zoro busted his lie doesn’t mean he’s going to let Zoro get out of answering his important question. He watches Zoro’s brow scrunch as he obviously replays the conversation in his head.

“Oh. No, I don’t think so. I realised pretty quickly what it was that I felt, I’m not stupid. It was scary as hell and if you’d asked me when I was freaked out like that I might just have punched you and run off, but I don’t think I’d actually tell you no even at that time.” Zoro answers with some consideration.

“That’s what I figured.” Sanji sighs with a big huff of air. So his rejection by Zoro really was a genuine honest-to-god rejection. That sucked.

“The Zoro in my world was so calm about it after he realised I was serious. He tried to be nice about it too, god, I was so embarrassed.” He whines hiding his face in his hands.

“I don’t know what to tell you. I didn’t say no, I’m right here with you now. Your dream world doesn’t matter.” The marimo says simply. Sanji wants to yell at him because it’s not that simple, at some point he’s going to go home and have to face the real Zoro, the Zoro who does say no and doesn’t want to be with him. But this Zoro doesn’t understand that, he can’t understand that.

“Sure.” He smiles weakly at Zoro.

 

It was dinner time by the time the hospital had run every test it could think of on him and Sanji gladly took the opportunity to cook and mull his situation over whilst Zoro called everyone he could think of to let them know that Sanji was okay. He felt like comfort food after the day he’d had and for them that meant chicken pasta, a simple dish but one that was warming and could be infinitely played with when the right combinations of spices were used, the fact that he had a large bottle of white wine in the fridge only helped that situation.

It took him halfway through cooking the meal and halfway through his second glass of wine before he settled on the solution to his problem. His reasoning went like this. If this world was made as a representation of his wish then he needed to find out what that wish was, maybe he could apply it to his real world. He’d thought, incorrectly, that Zoro might have been his wish. It was easy to think that, Zoro was the most obvious and immediate difference between the two worlds. And if nothing else the other night had certainly proved that he wanted Zoro. But Zoro clearly wasn’t what this place was about. What was it she’d said Zoro was? A side-effect? Zoro was some kind of bonus to this place.

He frowned at the sauce in the pan. He’d have to take a leaf out of Zoro’s book and do some detective work of his own. He was going to track down what made this place different to his world and find out what his wish was. And, he considered as Zoro wandered through his line of sight half clothed and looking for a clean shirt, it wouldn’t hurt to enjoy the scenery now that he was here.

“Oi, marimo. Forget the shirt and lay the table, dinner’s almost done.”

“Eh. Sure.”


	13. Chapter 13

He had expected Zoro to be against the whole 'find out what that stupid wish was' deal, however the man had been surprisingly willing and receptive to the idea. Zoro said that it might help get more of his memories back. So far though he'd not discovered anything helpful.

He'd found out that Nami was a meteorologist and predicted the weather on TV with frightening accuracy, he also found out that as a personal hobby she collected rare and valuable maps. Which was interesting of course but not helpful.

Brook worked at a relatively nearby aquarium and occasionally went out to sea to visit the baby whale that he'd had to release from the aquarium when it got too big. That was only his day job though, mostly he performed in the rumbar orchestra. Again, interesting but unhelpful and he still got the creeps looking at Book with human skin on.

This was why he was sitting, somewhat disappointedly, in Franky’s workshop. This world’s Franky wasn't a shipwright but he did make things for a living. With some occasional help from Usopp the two of them made weird things for films, apparently if you needed a weirdly powered machine that did something odd then Franky was your man. Franky was enthusiastically talking about some death ray he made for a film but Sanji wasn't listening.

"Nothing?" Zoro asks sitting down on the workbench next to him as Franky demonstrates how the edge of the laser pops off unaware that neither Sanji nor Zoro is paying the slightest bit of attention to him.

"Nope. This isn't getting me any closer to figuring out what I want to know or getting my memories back like you want." Sanji sighs quietly.

"Hm, maybe the others will be more helpful." Zoro suggests in a hushed voice so Franky doesn't hear them.

"I doubt it. Somehow I don't think that my wish was for everyone to have appropriate day jobs." Sanji mutters feeling disheartened. How the hell is he supposed to figure this stupid wish out if nothing he tries works?

"Well, maybe something will work out." Zoro says in a voice that even Sanji can tell sounds dubious.

"I doubt it. That kind of logic only works for people like-" Sanji starts but Zoro interrupts him.

"Luffy!" Zoro interrupts. Sanji realizes that Zoro is looking over his shoulder rather than looking at him and sure enough when he glances over he sees Luffy standing in the door a little damp from the drizzling rain outside.

"Hey guys, I didn't expect to see you here, especially you Zoro." Luffy grins walking into Franky's workshop.

"Why not me?" Zoro asks with a frown. Luffy tips his head to the side with the slight lazy and confused expression that his captain wears a lot.

"Well don't you have that fancy museum thing tonight? Robin already left to set up, she kicked me out of her and Nami's flat so she could leave." Luffy whines petulantly.

"Oh SHIT! I completely forgot! With all of the Sanji stuff it slipped my mind, she's gonna kill me if I'm late!" Zoro exclaims leaping up.

"What thing for Robin?" Sanji asks curiously but Zoro is ignoring him and instead frantically thumbing through things on his phone.

"It's this big gig at Robin's museum, she roped Zoro in to help because he speaks the language." Franky shrugs having realized that no one is paying attention to his fake doomsday device and that Zoro is too busy panicking to answer Sanji himself.

"Oh shit I’ve got to pick my suit up from the dry cleaners." Zoro mutters to himself as he paces back and forth. He pulls his wallet out of his pocket and starts flicking through the receipts in it.

"A suit?" Sanji repeats disbelievingly. He cannot imagine Zoro looking anything but awful in a suit, it'd be like shoving a shaved gorilla into a suit, in fact the gorilla might look better. It wasn't that he thought Zoro looked unattractive, far from it. Zoro naked was about the hottest thing he could think of, but Zoro in a suit? That’s a horrible mental combination.

"Ohhh, you don't remember Zoro's suit." Franky states with a slow grin spreading across his face. Sanji shoots him a 'duh' look because he remembers almost nothing, and as far as Franky knows he doesn't even know that.

"Oh man, I've got to see that. I'll bring my camera- no, better, I'll get Usopp to bring his camera." Franky grins deviously.

Zoro turns around having finished sending an important text, probably to Robin to apologize for forgetting.

"Franky, man, you wouldn't do me a massive favour and keep an eye on Sanji until the museum do would you?" Zoro pleads hopefully.

"Oh yeah man, I just found the perfect incentive to be there when Sanji gets there." Franky chuckles, his mirth obvious despite his attempts to cover his face with his large hand.

Zoro looks puzzled and slightly suspicious at Franky’s statement but clearly he doesn't want to ignore the good fortune of Franky actually agreeing to help. He nods at Franky gratefully before turning to Sanji and swooping in to press a soft kiss to his lips. Sanji finds himself a little surprised but happily leans into the kiss, he'd actually missed Zoro like this. All too quickly Zoro pulls back and with a hurried goodbye to everyone dashes off out of the workshop. Sanji feels a little pang of loss as the motorbike roars to life outside and fades off into the distance.

"Well, I've got work to do bro. You're welcome to chill here, just don't touch anything mechanical looking. That goes double for you Luffy." Franky instructs shooting them both stern looks.

"Don't worry, I know better than that." Sanji agrees. Who knows what any of Franky's little gadgets do, they're likely to be a little less deliberately dangerous than the inventions of the Franky that Sanji knows but he's still not willing to risk it.

Luffy rather predictably ignores this warning and the moment Franky’s back is turned the black haired boy is already curiously investigating something. Figuring that it’s not worth getting involved in that disaster waiting to happen Sanji instead makes his way over to a beat up old looking sofa. After a cautious check for hidden machinery he flops down onto it and closes his eyes. He lets his mind wander over his problems.

He thinks of Zoro and wonders idly whether or not he's only making things hard on himself by spending time with this Zoro when he knows full well that be won't be able to stay with him and that the Zoro he knows will never feel that for him. Is he just making it worse for himself later on? If that is the case then he really should have thought of that before he and Zoro ended up naked on the bedroom floor together. Ah, the benefits of hindsight.

The little voice of temptation in his head purrs silkily that the damage is already done, he's already going to miss Zoro like hell when he goes so he might as well indulge himself now. He shakes that thought loose from his head, that's a bad idea and not fair to Zoro. Zoro honestly believes that he's this world’s Sanji, and now that Sanji knows for certain that he isn't it's more than a little misleading to allow Zoro to continue to believe that. That goes double under the consideration that by allowing Zoro to believe that and being... intimate with him was essentially tricking Zoro into cheating on Sanji's counterpart.

A vindictive little part of Sanji growls that the other Sanji deserves a taste of his own medicine for betraying Zoro as much as he has. But... it's hardly fair to allow a good honest man like Zoro to do something spiteful out of ignorance. Zoro would probably be horrified if he really believed Sanji's version of events.

So, he supposes when considering everything that if he's going to be good he should really keep his hands to himself in future. Giving in to temptation won’t do him or Zoro any favours. It wasn’t like it was a big ask either, he’d managed perfectly fine to keep his hands to himself around Zoro for months on the ship and the only difference there was that this Zoro wasn’t endlessly irritating. He wasn’t sure whether he found it more or less annoying that this Zoro had outright admitted that he annoyed him for kicks. Probably more when he considered that Zoro’s statement had been one of the things that persuaded him that his Zoro must feel the same way. His musings are disturbed when Luffy appears by his side, his face covered in a curious grin that just screams mischief.

“So, Chopper told me that you think you’re a pirate.” Luffy says excitedly as he flops down onto the floor cross-legged at Sanji’s side.

“I thought Chopper took some kind of oath that meant he shouldn’t tell people stuff like that about his patients.” Sanji grumbles sitting up. Luffy just shrugs at that and continues to look at Sanji expectantly. It’s only when Sanji thinks that Luffy looks like a little kid expecting a story that he realises that his story probably is just what Luffy is expecting. With a rather exaggerated sigh for effect he tells the one person who always believes a good story from his friends about his real life.

It’s about four hours later when Sanji, Luffy and pile themselves into a large car that pulls up outside the building, looking sleek and expensive in the pouring rain. Franky had told them earlier that Usopp was coming to pick them up so when Sanji climbs into the car and spotts a pretty young woman in there with them he’s surprised. She’s blonde and pretty with pale skin and dressed rather nicely in a simple but elegant blue dress, she’s nestled in by the door next to Usopp with her ankles crossed daintily.

“Oh, hello. Usopp who’s this pretty lady with you?” Sanji smiles at her charmingly because pretty ladies always deserve to be charmed.

He realises from the startled then slightly sad expression on her face that he’s supposed to know her.

“I’m sorry.” He apologises quickly as slides into the seat opposite her. By the time Franky has lumbered past him into the car the pretty woman’s face is a picture of calm benevolence.

“Don’t worry about it. Usopp told me that you had some memory problems, it’s not like it’s selective or anything. Memory loss is so unpredictable.” She smiles, waving aside his concerns with her delicate hand. Sanji spots the glint of the gold wedding band like the lady chasing man that he’s always been, he appreciates pretty ladies but he respects the virtue of married ones, he’s never approved of cheating.

“I’m-” She leans forward to introduce herself properly but Sanji waves her silent quickly.

“No, no. I want to guess.” He grins charmingly at her as the driver starts the car from behind smoked glass at Sanji’s back. The lady smiles indulgently and falls silent.

Sanji scratches his stubbled chin thoughtfully and looks at her carefully. She’s dressed modestly, she’s not wearing anything too expensive looking but her clothes look new and carefully chosen, so combined with the expensive car and the tasteful earrings glinting in her ears he’d guess that she’s wealthy. Her gaze is intelligent but she’s far too young and nice to have made all the money she’s clearly got from her own power. So, old money but not a freeloader.

“You’re smart, pretty and wealthy. Do I know you through the Baratie?” He guesses curiously. She wouldn’t be out of step with a lot of the rich tourists that he and Zeff used to see weekly and the Baratie. She giggles and shakes her head no though.

“Hm, okay.” He concedes and thinks about it some more. She mentioned about his “memory problems” it occurs that her answer was almost a little too knowledgeable for a regular person, even a smart one.

“Are you… medical? A nurse or a doctor?” He guesses again.

“I’m training to be a doctor.” She reveals with a playful nod. Sanji laughs triumphantly and thinks some more.

“Well, I don’t know an awful lot of doctors. So… do I know you through Chopper?” He asks. Perhaps she’s some gifted mind that Chopper is nurturing with his odd brand of care.

“Clever, but no.” The blonde lady laughs lightly.

“Hm, you’re tricky.” He grins at her and leans back in his seat to think a little more.

“So you’re a rich, pretty doctor-to-be. I don’t know you through the Baratie or through Chopper. I must know you through someone, who else would know someone like-” He stops as the idea hits him.

He looks sharply at Usopp who had been sitting quietly next to the mysterious blonde the whole time. He remembers Usopp’s quiet mentions of his doctor sweetheart at home, the one who had given them Merry. The others had met her of course, but it was all before he joined the crew so he’d never seen her. He recalls Usopp’s descriptions of her, quietly beautiful blonde with pale pretty skin. Usopp, the terrible liar that he is, cracks under Sanji’s gaze with a snarky grin flowing over his face.

“You’re Kaya? Usopp’s Kaya?” He gasps excitedly looking at the pretty girl with an air of disbelief.

“Wonderful Sanji!” Kaya laughs happily, applauding delicately with her fine hands. Sanji is stunned, he didn’t expect her to be quite so pretty or so wonderful. All men in love talk about their hearts desires as if they’re goddesses, even the ones who aren’t compulsive liars like Usopp, but she really is just as Usopp described her.

“Well, I’m very pleased and excited to meet you. I’ve only heard about you from Usopp before.” He says effusively and shakes her hand happily. Kaya smiles and ignores the parts of his comment that must seem strange to her. He turns her hand curiously and examines her wedding band, it’s a simple gold band but there’s a certain elegance to it. He considers it a little more, if this is indeed Usopp’s Kaya then the wedding band must mean…

“You’re married?” He asks looking at Usopp with wonder. The smug bastard actually grins at him, looking simultaneously pleased with himself and disbelievingly happy.

“Congratulations I guess.” He says distantly. He can’t quite wrap his brain around the idea, Usopp and married don’t seem to go together. The guy is younger than him for goodness sake! But… Usopp has always held a candle for his pretty blonde doctor, so he supposes it’s only fair. He leans back thoughtfully in his chair as Luffy starts to enthuse about the food that will be at the museum gala and revels in how different this world is from his own.

He’s so distracted by Usopp and Kaya together when they all get out of the car that he almost forgets that he’s supposed to be meeting Zoro here at some point tonight. And that Zoro will be in- oh the horror- a suit. He guesses that Robin wouldn’t let him pick anything too gauche like a cheap-lawyer blue suit, but it’ll probably be something awful and cheap looking. Probably something designed to fit a normal sized man, rather than the overly muscled torso that Zoro sports. He just knows that the man is going to look like ten pounds of crap stuffed into a five pound bag. Which is a real shame because Zoro has such a pleasant body, if only he would learn to dress himself as if he weren’t a hobo or else go naked all the time. Either of those options would improve Sanji’s life measurably.

They enter the museum and he spots Nami’s glorious orange hair almost immediately. The group make their way over to her, with the exception of Usopp who after pecking Kaya on the cheek splits off to photograph the crowd and the exhibits. Nami is looking especially lovely this evening in a black silk dress that does wonders for all her delightful assets. Tempted as he is Sanji keeps his swooning to a minimum and his praise to acceptable levels, he has to remember that in this world he’s a taken man.

Servers are wandering through the museum among the guests with trays loaded with champagne glasses, he snags one for himself and as he spots Robin gracefully approaching them he grabs one for her too.

“I’m so glad you could all make it.” Robin smiles warmly to them all.

“Glad to be here. Here you go.” Sanji smiles back and offers her the second champagne flute in his hand. It wouldn’t do for the hostess of such a wonderful party to miss out on all of the fun herself.

“Ah, I can’t I’m afraid Sanji. I’ve many important people to impress for the museum tonight and I’ll have to drink enough to be polite with them, but I can’t drink too much.” Robin explains with a polite little smile.

“Oh, well, that’s no problem. But, if you’re the one throwing the party shouldn’t you be allowed to have at least a little fun?” He teases her gently.

“Oh, I wish. This is less of a party and more of a bid to ensure that the museum, specifically my department, gets enough funding. Pretty dress aside Sanji this is work.” The beautiful archaeologist sighs rubbing her forehead in a slightly stressed way.

“That said, having all of you here makes this much more enjoyable. And I’m very grateful to Zoro for helping me out too.” She adds brightly, giving them all a warm smile. Sanji nods and smiles back at her, he hadn’t realised that this was work, he probably shouldn’t really disturb Zoro either if he’s making Robin’s job easier.

He takes his time talking to his nakama instead and drinking champagne merrily. He’s enjoying the time with his nakama all together, even if Robin is missing. Still, he’s not quite settled in himself. He glances absently around the room, taking in the décor, the people in their fancy clothes and the exhibits.

“Zoro is off translating for people and being rude.” Nami volunteers some time later without him asking her. It occurs to him that he must have looked as if he was looking for Zoro, he wonders absently if he was looking out for the marimo subconsciously.

“Oh?” He asks raising an eyebrow at her.

“You know him, he’ll help Robin when she asks but he won’t be happy about it. And pleasing strangers has never been his thing.” The beautiful navigator sighs wearily and fiddles with the stem of her glass.

“That’s true.” Sanji concedes. Zoro has no manners at all for strangers who ask him to do things he doesn’t feel like doing. He wouldn’t have lasted five minutes with his attitude and customer service at the Baratie, and considering as his ridiculous adoptive family were mostly convicts, pirates and thieves that was saying something.

“As much as I hate to leave you my mellorine, I should probably go remind that marimo brain to be nice to people.” He grouses. He has to admit though that the idea of seeing Zoro, even in what is doubtlessly a horrible suit, makes him a little excited even if they’ve only been apart for a few hours.

When he goes through the third archway he realises that Usopp is walking backwards ahead of him, trying to be inconspicuous. His camera is raised ready but not as high as his face, so it’s not like he’s taking pictures of anyone like he’s supposed to be doing. With an irritated huff he strides over to the sharpshooter-come-photographer.

“Usopp, what are you doing?” He asks the other man exasperatedly over the bubble of chatter going on around them.

“My job.” Usopp grins and snaps a picture of Sanji’s no doubt irritated face.

“I doubt that Robin paid you to very obviously stalk me with your camera.” He points out reasonably. In fact Usopp had told him on the ride over that Robin had paid him to take pictures of the patrons and the exhibits.

“Hm, yeah. But Franky employed me too. Look over there.” Usopp smirks and gestures across the room.

With some reluctance Sanji does look and catches a shock of that marimo green hair over the edge of a tall man’s shoulder. Sanji strains his ears and can indeed make out the distinct irritated baritone of Zoro’s voice interrupted by the other man making comments and asking Zoro questions.

“-it reads ‘flowing water’, like I said it’s a pun. …No, I can’t explain it to you, it’s a pun, they don’t translate well. Ugh, will you just take my word for it when I say it’s witty?”

The man that Zoro was talking to, or vaguely insulting – it’s hard to tell, walks towards Sanji with an irritated huff. When he moves aside Sanji can see Zoro properly for the first time since getting here.

His eyes widen and his jaw drops. Distantly his brain registers the frantic click of Usopp’s camera working but he’s not got the brainpower right now to deal with that.

Zoro most definitely does not look like ten pounds of crap stuffed into a five pound bag. He looks… well, Sanji’s not sure that he could really pick a word to describe how Zoro looks right now, but seeing as he’s stunned then “stunning” might just do it.

Zoro is less a suit jacket, he’s probably discarded it in his boredom, but Sanji can’t say that he minds. Zoro is wearing a crisp snow-white shirt with a dark green silk tie neatly nestled in the dip of his collarbone, the fabric makes it almost look black where the light doesn’t catch it, it’s almost jewel like. The same rich silk makes up the back panel of the tailored waistcoat that Zoro is wearing. It’s tight in the small of his back in a tailored way that shows quite clearly that Zoro is hiding an impressive body under his clothes and the cut of it at the front does wonders in exaggerating Zoro’s build. The rest of his suit looks wonderfully rich even in the understated black colour. His hair is still outrageously green and unkempt and his ever present earrings both shout “fuck you” to the general social conventions of fitting in and manage to match tastefully with the buttons on Zoro’s waistcoat.

Despite Zoro’s irritated scowl Sanji finds himself gaping at the man and for the first time in his life uncertain as to whether he wants Zoro to stay in his clothes or get naked. One thing is for sure though; Zoro has never looked so good.

“Ahh, I’m gonna frame that one.” Usopp chuckles looking down at his camera’s screen, at pictures of him staring at Zoro he realises suddenly. At once Franky’s grin and mention of Usopp and his camera earlier come back to him. They knew how he’d react and set him up to exploit him.

“Scram.” He growls at Usopp who laughs at him but obligingly disappears. Sanji has time to be mad at them later, for now though there’s Zoro.

Sanji can’t repress the feeling of being special when Zoro’s frustrated scowl disappears when he sees Sanji. Zoro’s face melts into a happy smile as their eyes meet and greets him with a soft ‘hey’.

Up close Zoro is even more stunning. The suit looks gorgeous up close and Sanji only just barely manages to resist running his hands down Zoro’s chest just to feel him and that wonderful waistcoat.

“Well, hello to you too.” Zoro says in a voice that’s got an edge of a purr in it and the swordsman’s smile has something sexy winding through it. Sanji realises that his thoughts must be showing loud and clear on his face and he coughs and looks to the side in embarrassment.

“You look, um, well. Yeah.” He manages, feeling his face heat up suddenly. Goddamnit it, what is he, fifteen?

“You don’t look so bad yourself. Are you here to stay with me while I serve out my time for Robin? Please? You’ll keep the irritating people away.” Zoro asks endearingly.

“And here I thought you were doing a favour for a friend.” Sanji teases, feeling a little more himself with Zoro grumbling unhappily about other people.

“I am. I’d just rather be doing her a favour that involved moving furniture or some shit like that. Not talking to idiots about things from my country that they don’t understand and treat like… like toys. And they’re all fucking idiots too, I hate this.” He growls unhappily.

Sanji considers Zoro’s predicament as well as his previous vow to not touch this Zoro more than he should which, in light of that suit, is going to prove difficult. Maybe it’s something that he’ll acclimatise to, it’s probably just the shock of seeing Zoro looking so good in a suit that’s thrown him is all.

“Hey, you’re supposed to be nice to these people. It won’t kill you.” He says because he is supposed to be reminding Zoro to play nice with Robin’s guests. Zoro gives him a look that suggests that he thinks that it might just kill him and he’d rather not risk it.

“Don’t be an asshole. Come on, give me this talk that you’re supposed to be giving people. I don’t know a damn thing about any of this party or these exhibits.” He urges, shoving Zoro lightly with his shoulder as he turns to face one of the exhibit cases.

Sanji catches Zoro rolling his eyes in the reflection on the glass exhibit case but he says nothing. The case is filled with ancient looking artefacts, they’re all beautifully decorated and ornamental but clearly functional too.

“About half a year ago Robin and I got back from a trip to Japan, she wanted to organise an exhibit exchange with a few Japanese museums. I got dragged along to translate her negotiations but it turned out that she pretty much didn’t need me at all, all the museum guys spoke perfect English.” Zoro sighs, the irritation at his day and Robin’s insistence in involving him in this whole ordeal was more than evident in his voice.

Sanji has a flash of memory come to him. He remembers being sprawled out on the bed in the flat that seemed far too lonely and empty talking to Zoro on the phone at crazy hours of the day.

“Aren’t you supposed to be enjoying being back home in your native country asshole?”

“I’m not home, you’re home. I miss you.”

“I- I miss you too. When are you coming home?”

“Soon I hope.”

He startles back to the present. Zoro is talking about how much red tape Robin had to get through to run the exhibit and how much she has riding on it.

Sanji can’t really listen though, he can’t shake the sense of loneliness from his memories or the way his heart seizes desperately at the memory. He knows how much he hated being away from Zoro and he knows in his very bones that the moment he has to leave this world he’ll feel it all over again. Is he even going to leave this world? He came back here on an instinctual whim when he saw how upset and panicked Zoro was. He was supposed to be using this time to work out what his wish was, but he hadn’t come any closer to finding that out despite his best efforts. When he did work out what it was would he stay here or would he go back? Or was this world a test to find out what his wish was so that something in his world could be changed?

If he left or if this world ceased to be then what would become of him and Zoro? What would he do without this Zoro around? He’d managed to miss the man and crave him even from just being away for a day. Being separated from him permanently and being stuck with a Zoro that didn’t have any inclinations towards him beside nakamaship would be torture especially since he’d already experienced how well Zoro knew his body. All he could think about was how foolish he was being by not spending every moment that he had left plastered to Zoro, he didn’t know when he’d next fall into nothingness and wake up back in a world where Zoro didn’t care.

“Oi, are you even listening? You’re as bad as these rich idiots that I have to talk to.” Zoro huffs, elbowing him back into the present again.

Zoro seems to catch his expression, although what his face looks like Sanji can’t say. The marimo’s face creases in concern and his hand lands lightly on Sanji’s arm.

“Hey, are you okay? You look a little pale.” He asks looking at Sanji with a worried and caring expression on his face.

Sanji’s lip trembles, it’s not fair. This Zoro is too real, too close to what he really wants. All he wants is for things to be simple, to not have to worry about everything all the time and to have just one person who thinks the world of him. He wants someone who loves him despite all his shitty personality flaws and makes him want to be better instead. He just wants some goddamn peace in this world, something that he doesn’t have to fight for. He wants Zoro.

His resolve snaps in an instant and he throws himself at Zoro, wrapping his arms around the other man’s neck. He buries his face in Zoro’s collar, he just wants to lose himself in Zoro. Fuck being fair and being noble, denying himself what he needs isn’t going to help anyone, especially not him.

“Sanji, what’s wrong?” Zoro asks with a desperate note in his voice. Sanji shudders as Zoro’s large warm hands land in the small of his back as Zoro holds him close.

“Zoro, take me home. I need-” His voice breaks on the last word and he can tell from the suddenly wide look in Zoro’s eyes and the dark flush on his face that Zoro knows full well what he needs. He finds himself thankful once again for just how well this Zoro can read him, for all of the years that the swordsman has had to work out what Sanji wants. Zoro’s hands tighten against the jacket of his suit and his eyes dart about the room suddenly, Sanji can see the word ‘but’ forming on his lips.

He knows what Zoro is hesitating for. Zoro should stay here, he should work out the rest of the night doing Robin’s translation work, he should be restrained. But equally Sanji should be refraining from falling into temptation with Zoro.

“Just fuck this museum gig, let’s go.” He insists fisting his hands in the front of Zoro’s very expensive feeling waistcoat. Zoro swallows thickly, nods and quickly walks out of the room through a side corridor with Sanji in tow.

It takes almost no time at all for Zoro to find a cab and get them both speedily inside with a rushed address for their building. The ride there is thankfully short with Zoro sitting very deliberately far away from Sanji with his fists tightly clutching the edge of the seat as if he can’t physically restrain himself. Sanji shares the feeling and is glad for being buckled into his seat and aware of the driver’s watchful eyes on them to keep him and his hands still and away from Zoro.

Once they’re safely in the flat though all bets are off. He backs Zoro into the flat kicking the door shut behind them and proceeds to walk Zoro backwards into the arm of the sofa, toppling them both over onto the seat. He can’t help but run his hands over the fine fabric of Zoro’s suit, it’s definitely expensive and tailored so well that Sanji is starting to think that he’s almost going to regret getting Zoro out of it.

He levers his leg in between Zoro’s and grinds his thigh into Zoro as he leans up the man to bite at his neck whilst he works Zoro’s tie loose with excitedly shaking fingers. Zoro for his part just groans deliciously and Sanji can’t suppress his glee at the fact that this is Zoro as he’s always wanted him, willing and reciprocating. It’s so close to everything that he’s ever fantasised about Zoro, and yes, he’s willing to admit now that Zoro has featured in many of his late night mental movies. At the time he’d felt silly because he and Zoro seemed to be so wrong for each other, clearly he’d been an idiot at the time because this was the most right Sanji had ever felt. The situation can be desperately improved by having access to more of Zoro’s skin though.

He tries to be careful when he’s unbuttoning Zoro’s oh-so-lovely waistcoat but by the time he reaches the shirt underneath his lust-stunted patience is wearing thin and he gets about halfway down Zoro’s shirt before thinking ‘fuck it’ and just ripping the rest of it open and sending buttons pinging across the room. The marimo levels him an unimpressed look for about half a second before Sanji desperately pulls his own shirt off and thoroughly distracts Zoro.

Sanji slides back down onto Zoro’s ever warm skin and hums in pleasure at the skin contact. He greedily runs his hands all over Zoro’s exposed skin, along his thick wrists and the hard flat lines of his body, he traces Zoro’s long scar with his fingers and his tongue.

Zoro catches him by surprise when he digs his elbow into the sofa and flips them off of the furniture onto the floor, landing neatly on his hands and knees above Sanji. He leans in to press hot kisses to Sanji’s collar bone and speaks real words for the first time since leaving the taxi.

“What’s gotten into you? I know you love the suit, you always do, but you seem…” Zoro struggles for a word, clearly not knowing how to describe Sanji’s state.

Sanji knows what word Zoro should be using though. Desperate. And he is. He’s desperate to use up all the opportunities to have Zoro like this that he can, he’s desperate to have the other man touch him and desperately worried that he’s going to lose all of this. He doesn’t say that though, instead he throws his arms around Zoro’s neck, locking his hands at his wrists and says:

“Just fuck me, or-” He cuts himself short though. Whilst he likes the idea of being the one to fuck Zoro he’s not sure that he could do it right, he’s never done it before after all and if it’s anything like any other first time with sex then he’s likely not going to be very good, something that he doesn’t want. Besides, Zoro knows him in a way that Sanji doesn’t know Zoro, he knows that he can trust the other man to blow his mind.

“Just fuck me.” He concludes and arches his hips against Zoro’s for emphasis.

“Fuck you or fuck you? Those are my choices?” Zoro smirks raising an eyebrow at him.

“Yes, got a problem with that?” Sanji demands, trying to force some menace into his voice and failing.

“Not at all.” Zoro grins, bends down and quickly slides an arm under Sanji’s back.

He’s about to ask what Zoro’s doing when the man scoops him up and actually carries him out of the room. He would protest at the injustice of just being hauled around like this but hanging off of Zoro’s hips with his legs wrapped around the man’s back provides a very pleasing amount of pressure to all the right areas of his body. As a result he lets it slide this time and exploits the opportunity to get rid of Zoro’s goddamned belt early on so that when Zoro drops him onto the bed with a bounce Sanji is able to swiftly divest Zoro of his trousers and pants and get his hands on more of Zoro.

He’s almost unreasonably gleeful about the prospect of a naked Zoro, he didn’t get to explore as much as he would have liked last time because Zoro was most definitely in charge then and his big aim at the time had been getting Sanji off. Tonight however Sanji isn’t going to let this opportunity go to waste. He drags Zoro down onto the bed by his arm and kneels up above Zoro and allows himself to adoringly take in the view.

Zoro’s skin is that delicious tan colour that it’s always been but it’s flushed already from their excitement thus far as pink tinges Zoro’s cheeks and his neck. He lets his wandering hands track lower until they find their real prize. Zoro’s cock is still impressive and he takes his time his time by running his hand curiously up and down Zoro’s length, he’d felt him before but that was pressed against him. The marimo doesn’t seem to mind though and groans appreciatively at Sanji’s touch.

With sudden haste Sanji wrestles his own trousers off and plasters the length of himself against Zoro, paying special attention to grinding their dicks together. He shudders happily and Zoro’s hand progresses from his shoulder blade down to his ass in one long smooth and appreciative stroke. When his hand does reach Sanji’s ass he squeezes it hard and the cook can definitely spot the pleased grin cutting across Zoro’s face right now.

“I love that.” Zoro mutters to himself and gives Sanji another squeeze. He sits up suddenly, toppling Sanji into his lap and wraps his arms tightly around Sanji’s waist and burying his head in Sanji’s collarbone.

“Mine.” Zoro murmurs reverently into Sanji’s skin, stroking a hand down his bare back gently.

Sanji pauses, as a first reaction he wants to scowl at the idea that Zoro assumes that he belongs to anyone, much less to him. But he realises before he opens his big mouth that he wants to assert the same about Zoro, he wants this Zoro to be his. But… that isn’t the case. Zoro doesn’t belong to him, he’s just… borrowed. Still, he can say one thing that’s true.

“Yours.” He agrees softly as Zoro looks up at him with dark eyes.

Zoro smiles up at him before turning on his side, taking Sanji down with him and pressing him into the mattress. He kisses Sanji earnestly and the cook can feel the fire in the press of their lips, he knows where this is going. As much as he wants this, as much as he wants to do this with Zoro he’s nervous and inexperienced in this side of sex. Clearly some part of his anxiety must have transmitted to Zoro because the other man pulls back with an expression of concern.

“I don’t remember this, this is all a little new. So…” He trails off from his sudden explanation.

“Heh, I remember being like that. I guess I should return the favour and show you how this is supposed to go.” Zoro smirks down at him.

“Okay.” Sanji agrees, pushing himself up on his elbows to look at Zoro. He feels excited and nervous, he wants to know what he’s supposed to do. Oh, he can work out the basics, he knows what gets put where but that’s not the point. He wants to know what he should do, what he should know, to be good at this.

“Oi, stop looking at me like you’re in class. Just… lay back and relax.” The swordsman says with a roll of his eyes as he shoves Sanji lightly on the shoulder to topple him back to laying down.

Sanji shuffles his shoulders and tries to get more comfortable on the bed. Relax right? That can’t be hard, can it? Zoro runs a hand up Sanji’s thigh from his knee and Sanji has to remind himself to unclench his jaw. Zoro snickers at him and leans above him again.

“I said relax.” He grins against Sanji’s mouth and kisses him thoroughly. This at least Sanji can appreciate, getting kissed by Zoro still short circuits his brain. With a pleased purr he locks his arms around Zoro’s neck. It’s only when he hears the click of a cap closing that he realises that Zoro was doing anything other than kissing him. Before he can even gather enough brain power together to be worried or nervous Zoro’s hand is rubbing between his legs with slick fingers. He bites his lip as Zoro’s circles lower around his entrance.

Relax. He intones mentally to himself and leans up to kiss Zoro again, that usually does wonders to distract him. He chides himself for being so silly and nervous, he wants that connection with Zoro, he want to have sex with Zoro, he wants more than just an (admittedly fantastic) mutual handjob on the bedroom floor. Earlier he could hardly wait, hell, he dragged Zoro out of the museum to get here and now that he’s got what is quite literally the man of his dreams in bed he’s acting like a nervous virgin.

It’s not as if what Zoro is doing feels bad either, just… unusual. Surely it must be good, he feels like it should be good. Anyway, his other self and Zoro have been doing this for years apparently so there’s got to be something in it. He smiles and stretches and forces himself to relax. Zoro grins up at him and slides down Sanji’s body and mouths enthusiastically along the line of Sanji’s cock. The cook really does relax then, arching up eagerly towards Zoro’s mouth. A jolt of pleasure runs through him suddenly and he realises that Zoro’s fingers are actually inside him now. He gasps in surprise and he feels Zoro’s pointy grin against the skin of his hip as Zoro teasingly quirks his fingers forward in almost a beckoning gesture.

He should probably object more to the pleased and needy noises that he can hear spilling from his throat, but this is Zoro that he’s with. Zoro can read every tell he has, the man knows precisely when he’s irritating Sanji no matter what Sanji does to hide it so he’d probably know just how much Sanji’s enjoying what Zoro’s doing even if he tried to stay mute.

At some point, Sanji’s not sure when as his perception of time always goes sideways when he feels like this, Zoro removes his fingers. Sanji whines unhappily and looks up at Zoro through his hair with an irritated expression. That fades instantly when he realises that it’s not Zoro’s fingers that he’s lining up to Sanji’s now slick entrance. He’s surprised to find that he’s not nervous but excited and impatient instead. He tilts his hips into Zoro and the other man slides home like a dream.

Oh god.

It’s as if his brain can’t quite process everything at once. Zoro is hot inside of him and big, Sanji doesn’t know if that last one is good or bad because there’s a little discomfort but it feels amazing and he wants more somehow. He can feel Zoro shuddering with the effort to stay still and as Sanji’s toes curl into the bedsheet he knows that being still is not what he wants from Zoro. He whines and grinds his ass down against Zoro making the man finally start moving.

Zoro slides his arm under Sanji’s knee and pushes forward until Sanji’s knee is pressed against his own shoulder and Zoro is fucking him almost bent double. Sanji yelps at the change of angle, his hips buckling excitedly as his body fizzes with pleasure and his untouched cock leaks against his stomach. Zoro bites sharply into Sanji’s collar bone and groans into Sanji’s ear.

Zoro sets a steady pace and Sanji can suddenly see the appeal of this whole thing, he can see that this is what his body had been so desperate for that he dragged the other man home. All he can feel everywhere is Zoro, Zoro moving inside of him, Zoro’s quick breath against Sanji’s sweat slicked skin and the power of Zoro’s muscles as every movement ripples through the man.

Zoro’s thrusts are steady and strong, keeping Sanji balanced precariously just on the edge of coming violently. He feels like he might just die if he doesn’t come soon so he reaches for himself with shaking hands, he knows that it will only take a stroke or two to bring him to blissful completion. But his progress is halted when Zoro growls darkly, catches his wrists and pins them sharply to the mattress by Sanji’s head. He doesn’t even know whether the pressure that Zoro’s holding him down with is on the right side of pain or not, he’s too strung out with pleasure to tell.

He whines and bucks desperately against Zoro as the man pushes him inch by inch closer to the edge. He stretches a leg over Zoro’s shoulder and on Zoro’s next thrust his vision goes white with starts. He gasps and swears as he shakes apart under Zoro, a good few spine melting thrusts later he feels Zoro fall apart as well.

He reaches up to tangle his now free hands in Zoro’s damp stupidly coloured hair and pulls the man down to kiss him hard. Zoro bites Sanji’s lip teasingly and then gently swipes his tongue over the bite.

“I love you.” The swordsman breathes against his mouth and chases the words with a kiss.

Sanji pauses and squeezes his eyes shut and acutely feels the bittersweet knowledge that this moment is going to pass and knowing that he might not be able to stay here with this Zoro. The Zoro who is sweet and kind, the Zoro that is still strong and loyal, the Zoro that loves him.

“I love you too.” He manages to say whilst keeping most of the tremor out of his voice.

“Promise me something? Promise that you won’t leave me.” He asks desperately and buries his face into the crook of Zoro’s neck.

“What?” Zoro asks surprised, pulling back from Sanji and staring down at him wide eyed.

Sanji knows that he’s being stupid and foolish. He knows that Zoro wouldn’t willingly part them, if anything it’ll be this stupid wish or his own actions that’ll tear them apart, but he can’t stop himself from worrying. He stares up at Zoro earnestly and waits.

“Of course I promise, I’m not going anywhere.” Zoro says softly and presses a kiss to the corner of Sanji’s mouth.

With the worried flutter in Sanji’s stomach settled for the moment he concentrates on stretching out happily and feeling all post-coitally warm and happy.


	14. Chapter 14

Sanji would describe himself as feeling warm, comfortable and happy. Oh, and incredibly guilty too. He's curled up against Zoro's warm body with his head resting against the other man's shoulder mentally berating himself.

What the hell was wrong with him? Hadn't he only just resolved to keep his hands to himself? Hadn't he only just agreed that continuing in a relationship with this other Zoro would be a bad idea for both of them because it would be painful for him and inadvertently cheating for Zoro? So what had happened? Ok, he'd drunk a little but he'd certainly not been drunk. Maybe it had been that suit. He shivered pleasantly at the memory of that suit on Zoro, fitting him so perfectly and mmm...

Goddamnit! He couldn't blame his poor impulse control on some, admittedly very fine, fabric. Zeff had always said he was short sighted and forgetful when it came to denying himself. Well now he'd got himself into this mess what was he going to do about it?

"Mm, morning." Zoro murmurs into his hair in a sleepy voice. Zoro's large warm hand rubs soothing circles into the arch of Sanji's back. Wow, Zoro is really good at that, if he was a cat he'd be purring right about now. He stretches under Zoro's touch and wonders idly whether Zoro might be up for spending all day in bed with him, they could-

What the hell? Sanji jerks himself into sitting bolt upright, he was doing it again!

"God there is something wrong with me." he groans to himself.

"I've been telling you that for YEARS." Zoro chuckles, still laying flat on the bed next to Sanji.

"Oi, I thought you loved me. Doesn't that mean you're supposed to be nice to me?" Sanji accuses mildly as he looks over his shoulder at Zoro stretched out naked in bed. He looks like everything Sanji has ever wanted and it makes his heart ache a little.

"Where's the fun in that?" Zoro smirks up at him and elicits a similar response from Sanji's own lips.

Sanji winces slightly to himself. He should have heeded his own advice, this whole thing was going to hurt so much more now. And poor Zoro, what would he think of himself, what would Sanji's opposite say? What if his selfishness had ruined Zoro's only chance of love?

"Oi what's wrong?” Zoro asks, bumping his knee against Sanji’s ribs.

“Nothing.” He answers out of habit and scratches his stubble unhappily. Zoro jabs him in the kidneys and gives him an ‘out with it’ look and holds his fingers out threateningly for another jab to Sanji’s vital organs.

“What?” The man repeats.

“I- ugh. I feel awful is all, about this.” He groans in answer.

“The sex?” Zoro questions, leaning up on his elbows and looking at him with a slightly worried expression.

“No, well… yes but- I mean no, it was…” He trails off and grins stupidly as the memory of being pinned under Zoro comes back. That seems to be answer enough for Zoro who relaxes a little more again.

“Then what?” the marimo continues, persistent as ever.

“I’m… making you cheat. By being with me.” He explains with a sigh. Zoro bolts upright at that and his expression becomes rapidly very angry, shooting a harsh glare at Sanji.

“I would never!” he yells furiously.

“That’s not what I meant!” Sanji insists, not wanting to anger or upset the other man.

“I meant that, well… I’m not your Sanji. Your Sanji is somewhere else, I’m not from here. So when I go and he comes back he’s going to find out that you were with me instead of him. I’m just worried that something bad will happen between the two of you and it’ll be my fault.” He continues. Zoro’s expression softens at that and he huffs an irritated sigh at Sanji.

“Don’t say things like that. Besides, you are my Sanji, there’s no one else.” The marimo insists.

"Look, I know that you believe this whole thing, and that must be pretty scary but it's not true. There isn't any other Sanji, just you." Zoro says calmly with his hand resting warmly in the small of Sanji's back.

Sanji screws his eyes shut and grimaces, it's useless talking to Zoro about this, he just can't understand. He just doesn't know what Sanji knows. And why should he? Sanji’s pretty sure that if he was in Zoro’s position he wouldn’t believe him either.

"Never mind." he mutters unhappily.

"Hey, look. You'd know if I was someone different right, even if I looked the same?" Zoro asks earnestly.

Sanji thinks about the Zoro that he knows back on the Sunny, the Zoro who was different enough to shut him down but similar enough to try to be kind about it.

"Believe me, I can tell the difference." he answers unhappily, he can tell now anyway.

"Then will you give me the same credit? I know that you're you." Zoro insists wrapping his arms around Sanji.

Eventually Zoro gets up to start his day, leaving Sanji alone in bed staring morosely at the ceiling. He has this feeling, this sense almost that time is running out. He can't shake it, all morning when he makes breakfast and goes about his day with Zoro he has this pressing feeling that time is slipping away, almost as if he has a heavy clock slung around his neck.

He curls up on the sofa next to Zoro and drinks a chamomile tea, he needs something to soothe his nerves. He really does try to think about the puzzle of this place, about why the things that are different are so, be he can't think of anything. It doesn't help that Zoro is distracting him. The would-be detective is pouring over his files and a map of London with reading glasses on, Sanji shouldn't find that anywhere near as adorable as he does but it's just so sweet!

He feels calmer now though, Zoro's presence is soothing even if it is distracting as hell. His calm is shattered though when something flutters past his eyes and lands in his tea. Curiously he peers into his mug and floating there innocently is a single petal.

A lotus petal.

In a panicked scrabble that rather startles Zoro he retrieves the petal from the tea. No sooner has he got it sitting wetly in the palm of his hand it shrivels up and turns to ash.

Panic clutches tightly around his heart, it's a warning, it has to be! He needs to solve this stupid puzzle and fast! Maybe if he can then he gets to keep Zoro, maybe Zoro can come with him!

"Oh, gross. Did a moth just commit suicide in your tea?" Zoro asks wrinkling his nose in disgust. He takes his glasses off and stands up taking the tea off of Sanji who sits there in silence for a moment before the panic bubbles over like water from a boiling pot.

"Oh god, it's a warning! What do I do?" he panics desperately. How long does this mean he has left to work this out? Days? Hours? Minutes?!

"Hey, hey. What's a warning? What are you talking about? You mean the moth in your tea?" Zoro asks gently, leaning over the back of the sofa to look down at Sanji.

"That wasn't a moth! It was a lotus petal, it's a warning that my wish is running out! I'm going to lose everything, I'll be gone, you'll be gone!" Sanji explains, his voice rising in panic and sounding near hysterical.

"Oi, cook. Calm down, it's ok." Zoro insists, rounding the couch again and sitting down next to Sanji. He's about to argue the point that it's really REALLY not ok when Zoro cups Sanji's face in his hands and catches his fingertips in his hair.

"Look, no one is going anywhere. Nothing is running out of time, nothing is wrong. We're not going to lose each other, okay?" Zoro murmurs gently in a calming voice. Despite himself Sanji does find himself comforted, he holds onto Zoro’s wrists tightly, not wanting to break contact with the man that so quickly became such a massive part of his life.

"Promise?" Sanji asks feeling small and pathetic.

"Heh, I promise." Zoro grins broadly at him and presses a quick kiss to Sanji's willing mouth.

The swordsman, no not the swordsman, the detective stands up again and takes Sanji's ruined cup of tea to the sink.

Sanji curls up into the sofa and presses his cheek to Zoro's warm shoulder when the man returns. Despite his comforting words Sanji needs to work this puzzle out.

Think, think, THINK! His wish was selfless, and it wasn't wishing for Zoro as much as he wants him. Every one of his nakama is different in some way. They're all still happy and chasing vaguely similar dreams. Is that it? He wishes that his nakama had different dreams? No, no, that can't be it. Why would that be so? He had no problem with their dreams, he supports them.

Goddamnit. Could it be something to do with Zeff? That seems unlikely, he was already chasing all blue for the man and other than that the old man had the Baratie, he was happy as a clam. Shit, shit, shit.

What was the common theme then? He wouldn’t say that his friends were really any more or less happy than they were in his world. Except possibly Usopp who was over the moon about being married to his doctor girl. It’s a shame that they’re apart in the real world, but it wasn’t like Usopp could have taken her with him. She had stuff to do and a pirate ship was a dangerous place, after all. Hell, they had some disaster or another happen to them every week or so. It had actually been nice being here where it was… safe…

Sanji’s eyes widened. Was that it? His friends here were safe, in the entire time here the worst that had happened was Zoro had got into a little brawl and gotten a scratch, not even bad enough to need stitches. That was practically just a regular day in his world. He hadn’t had to worry about the constant threat of death here. Surely… well, surely wishing for a world where your nakama weren’t likely to be killed was selfless wasn’t it?

Suddenly the scent of flowers washes over him, sickly sweet and covering him completely. The air feels different suddenly, like a ripple has just run through it.

“Hm, it took you long enough.” A female voice says.

Zoro leaps up instantly at his side but Sanji knows who the voice belongs to even before he sees her. It’s the oracle girl, the head one with the long brown hair and the flower behind her ear. She’s leaning against one of the floor to ceiling windows, her dress going translucent in the morning light.

“Who the hell are you? How did you get in here?!” Zoro demands fiercely of her.

Sanji finds himself feeling almost weary as he looks at her, he can see the punch of pain coming and he just wants it over with.

“What happens now?” He asks with a sigh, standing up next to Zoro. The marimo looks from him to her antsily with confusion written on his face.

“Now,” she says leaning her head against the window frame, “you get to choose whether you want you wish or not.”

“Sanji, who is this? How did she get in here?” Zoro asks him with wide eyes as if asking Sanji to give him an explanation that makes sense. Sadly Sanji doesn’t have one of those for him.

“I told you about her before. She’s the lotus flower woman, the one who sent me here in the first place.” He answers tiredly. And he can see the words that go through Zoro’s head without the other man even saying them ‘but that wasn’t real’. He doesn’t know whether or not he wishes Zoro was right or not.

“But-” Zoro starts to protest.

“How else did she get in here? How else does she know about all of this? You really think she managed to sneak by you?” Sanji argues briefly. He turns his attention back to the woman, Zoro can choose to believe him or not later.

“What do you mean I get to choose?” He prompts the flower girl.

She stays silent and tilts her head with a small smile. Without saying anything she thumps her fist behind her on the pane of glass. A ripple runs through it like water, turning the glass into something that reflects like a mirror but moves like liquid. He hears Zoro’s gasp at his side but ignores it.

“I mean this.” She says as the shimmering quicksilver glass behind her turns clear again. Instead of revealing the city streets below them though it instead shows the deck of the Sunny. Luffy is on deck and yelps in surprise and calls for everyone, he’s clearly able to see them. At his exclamation the rest of the crew slowly come onto the deck and stare wide eyed in wonder at them.

“Oh my god…” Zoro murmurs next to him, taking in the scene with new eyes.

“Is… is that Brook?” the Zoro at his side asks with a note of horror in his voice. Sanji winces at it, because he found it odd seeing his friend with skin but it must be far more horrible to suddenly see your friend without it.

“So this is where you were keeping Sanji!” Luffy yells angrily, pulling back his fist in preparation for a punch. He swings for her but his fist just bounces off of the glass window.

“Give him back!” Usopp shouts at the woman who looks on at his nakama with a bored expression.

“Whether he comes back or not is his decision.” She intones flatly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sanji asks with a frown.

“It means that you can either take your wish and stay here, where the people that you love are safe. They’ll follow the dreams that they have here and you won’t have to worry about them getting killed. Or you can return to where you came from.” She answers simply.

“And what happens to them if he does stay here?” Zoro asks suddenly from Sanji’s side. Sanji looks at him in surprise, but he supposes he shouldn’t be startled, Zoro’s always been able to roll with the punches that life throws at him.

“They continue on their journey without him. I can’t tell you their future like I can yours, their world is too… unpredictable.” The girl answers thoughtfully.

“But without him I’m guessing their chances aren’t good. Sanji’s told me about the kind of thing that happens to them every day.” Zoro says stiffly. Sanji cringes inwardly at that, he doesn’t need a reminder to know how crazy-dangerous the world he came from is.

“Things aren’t certain, the future is changeable. But I wouldn’t bet in their favour without him, no.” the oracle answers with a slight wince.

“Hey! This isn’t fair, you said that you’d grant my wish! I wished for my nakama to be protected, to be safe. All you’ve done is create copies of them somewhere where they are safe and you’re asking me to leave for that and put my nakama in more danger! That’s not what I wished for!” Sanji shouts angrily. This whole thing is completely unfair, why should he have to choose?

The oracle actually has the decency to look a little guilty at that. She looks away from Sanji and scratches the back of her neck awkwardly.

“That’s… true, I suppose. But I lack to power to change the world you came from like that, you can’t have the kind of protection that you wished for there. But I made you somewhere that you can.” She points out meekly.

“At their expense!” Sanji yells, pointing at his nakama on the ship.

“Sanji’s right, what you’ve done isn’t fair! If you couldn’t grant his wish you shouldn’t have done anything, just like with the rest of us!” Nami shouts, pointing an accusing finger at the oracle.

“You made this place. You made my world, you made me.” Zoro says beside him in a numb voice that cuts through all of the yelling and makes everyone stare at him.

“I’m not… real.” He finishes quietly.

“No, that’s not true Zoro! You’re real, real as anything!” Sanji insists desperately, grabbing Zoro’s arm.

“He’s right, just because I created this world doesn’t make it fake, nor you. Everything is created by someone.” The oracle confirms, nodding her head sagely.

Zoro’s fists clench angrily by his sides and Sanji feels the tension run through him like a current.

“If you created me then you should know that I don’t believe in crap like that!” He snaps angrily. Out of the corner of his eye Sanji sees the other Zoro no… the original Zoro nod slightly in agreement with himself.

An idea occurs to Sanji. He’s always known that he was on borrowed time with Zoro, perhaps he can still save everyone but himself. Perhaps all isn’t lost.

“What happens if I choose to go back? Does the other Sanji reappear here? Will things go back to normal here?” he demands, turning to the Oracle. Before she can answer though Zoro jerks on his arm hard enough to spin Sanji around to face him.

“There isn’t any other Sanji, I told you that. It’s you, it’s always been you.” Zoro breathes, catching the back of Sanji’s neck with his hand and pressing their foreheads together.

Sanji can’t believe that, he can’t. That means that if he leaves Zoro won’t have anyone, he’ll never love anyone else. It’s not like the Zoro back on the Sunny who doesn’t have anyone to love and doesn’t want anyone, this Zoro wants him and will know what he’s missing. He can’t do that to Zoro, he’s not sure that he can do it to himself either. No one has ever loved him like Zoro has and this Zoro is the only one that feels that way.

“He’s right you know. I made this world around you, you’re the Sanji that he remembers and if you stay here then the memories from this world will all come back to you eventually.” The oracle says softly from her place at the portal that used to be their window.

“But you need to make a choice.” She adds weightily.

“You can’t do this to me!” Sanji pleads with her as tears prickle behind his eyes and Zoro runs a hand through his hair.

“What happens to him if Sanji comes back? What happens to that place?” The swordsman from the other side of the window asks.

“The wish can’t sustain itself without Sanji there, they’ll vanish. The wish will unmake itself.” The oracle answers simply.

Sanji startles away from his Zoro at that and stares at her in horror. This whole world can’t possibly vanish into nothing can it? All of his nakama that are here, Zeff and the Baratie and what about Zoro, his precious Zoro?

“You can’t give Sanji a choice like that! You’ve as much told him that whatever he chooses someone will die!” Robin says fiercely, her fists tightening dangerously.

“Being unmade isn’t the same as dying! They won’t have ever existed.” The oracle insists desperately, holding her hands up defensively.

“I hardly see a difference!” the archaeologist snarls furiously.

“Can’t- can’t Zoro and the others come back with me? Then they wouldn’t get unmade.” Sanji asks with desperate hope, perhaps he can find a way to salvage this after all.

“They can’t travel between worlds, only you can. You have to choose.” She answers with a short shake of her head.

“It’s your choice Sanji.” Luffy states quietly from the deck.

Sanji gasps and locks eyes with his captain. Luffy looks furious and sad, but Sanji understands what he means, whichever Sanji chooses his captain supports him. Oh god, he owes Luffy so much. What’s he supposed to do? The rest of his nakama look at him teary eyed with looks of uncertainty on their faces.

“No, there must be some other way. You can’t ask me to make this choice!” He pleads desperately with the oracle. She again shakes her head no though.

Zoro grabs the back of his shirt and spins him, pulling him tight into a kiss. Sanji feels the wetness spill over from his eyes and run down his cheeks as the opens up his mouth to Zoro, uncaring that his nakakma are looking on. His tears must make their way to his mouth because suddenly the kiss becomes salty and almost bitter.

Zoro pulls back and holds Sanji tightly in his arms for a moment. Sanji shakes in his arms, what can he possibly do? How can he weigh up the lives of his nakama in the world he came from against the lives of his nakama here? How can he possibly turn his back and leave these arms around him that make him feel complete?

“Listen to me, I love you. I’ve always loved you, ever since I saw you and worked out what that meant. Remember that.” Zoro breathes quietly, kissing him on the temple.

Zoro glances up suddenly, his eyes steely and locked on something just over Sanji’s shoulder. Defensively Sanji turns but sees nothing there that wasn’t there before. Before he can question what’s going on the blow of a hand hits the middle of his back and sends him flying forward through the watery glass and landing hard on the other side.

Sanji gasps up at the blue sky above him as the smell of the ocean fills his nose, below him the deck of the Sunny is bobbing gently in the ocean. Panicked he scrambles to his feet to find himself on the other side of the window, the oracle is standing on the windowsill looking surprised and Zoro, his Zoro, is on the other side looking like he thinks he might be sick.

“What the hell Zoro?!” He demands leaping forward for the window. Instead of hitting Zoro and thumping him painfully on the chest though he hits solid glass.

“I’m sorry, really I am. But I couldn’t let you make that choice. I know you Sanji, whatever you chose would eat you up forever, you’re not a man to let your own mistakes go. So I chose for you.” Zoro apologises shakily, pressing his hand to the glass that so easily let Sanji through but keeps them apart.

“No, no, no! You can’t do that! It was my choice, it was my wish, you can’t just make it for me!” He screams banging his fists against the unyielding glass.

Seeing as that approach isn’t going to work he swings his leg back and kicks at the glass as hard as he can. It has no effect though. As desperation courses through him he feels his leg catch ablaze as his foot makes contact with the glass over and over. His Zoro looks startled but Sanji doesn’t care, he just needs to get back there. Furiously he turns to the rather startled looking oracle.

“Let me back! It was my choice, you can’t just let this happen!” He screams at her.

“I- I can’t! The decision has been made. I’ve never seen this happen before but… it’s already too late.” She says quickly.

“I’ll kill you!” He snarls and leaps for her. Fuck the fact that she’s a woman, fuck the fact that she’s younger than him, she’s just taken everything from him and she needs to die. She slips through his fingers like smoke though and disappears from beneath him before he can so much as touch her.

A rumble catches his attention and he looks through the glass to see Zoro regaining his balance as if an earthquake had just rocked the place. Horrified Sanji watches as their front door, the door to their home - to the place that they picked together for the both of them, starts to disintegrate into lotus petals and drift into nothingness. Behind where the door was is simply gaping empty white space.

“No, this can’t be happening. You promised me I wouldn’t lose you.” He sobs painfully as he presses his hand to the glass. Zoro’s face fills with regret at that, the man has never liked breaking his promises.

“I’m sorry about that, about everything.” He murmurs, resting his head against the glass.

Zoro glances over his shoulder to see that the erosion of his world into lotus petals has reached the bookcases and the edge of the kitchen. Quickly Zoro darts away from the glass and snatches his white sword from the mantelpiece before it is dissolved, around the space that it occupied pictures of the two if them disintegrate into petals.

“Oi, other me.” Zoro demands as he gets back to the glass, the original Zoro looks back at him and Sanji looks perplexed and devastatedly from one to the other. For a selfish second he wishes that their places were swapped and then hates himself for thinking it.

“Promise me that you’ll look out for him, protect him.” Zoro insists.

“Sanji doesn’t need-” the swordsman on the deck of the Sunny begins with a frown.

“I didn’t fucking ask for your short-sighted opinion, I already know how ungrateful you are!” Zoro snaps furiously. After a split second’s consideration he presses his white sword to the glass.

“You know how much she meant to me, to us. He means more. Promise me that you’ll look out for him, swear on her.” Zoro orders in a shaking voice.

The swordsman stares wide eyed for a second before looking slowly down at the three swords on his hip. He smoothly pulls Wado out and holds her up to his counterpart.

“I promise.” He intones seriously.

The Zoro through the glass nods at that, apparently satisfied. He turns back to Sanji and once again presses his hand to the glass, his sword forgotten in the other hand.

Sanji presses his hand to Zoro’s palm print and feels the tears rush down his face as the spot that Zoro is standing in slowly gets consumed by petals. He doesn’t have any more words, neither of them do. Denying what is happening is foolish now, and there’s nothing to say that the other doesn’t already know. Sanji is covered with the sickly smell of lotus petals as the glass and Zoro himself starts to flutter away into petals, he can’t believe that he ever thought the smell was nice. In far too short a time the last of the glass and Zoro’s handprint disappears. Without the weight to lean on Sanji falls forward. He doesn’t bother to catch himself and he doesn’t care about the pain when he lands awkwardly on the deck.

Zoro is gone.


	15. Chapter 15

Sanji isn't sure how he got to the infirmary in the first place, he doesn't remember walking there or passing out, but right now he doesn't care. He doesn't care because Zoro is gone.

He runs in cycles from crying so hard that he thinks that he might be sick to lying there numbly and drifting into fitful sleep. He's in the infirmary more for the sake of privacy than because there's anything medically wrong with him. It's not like there's anything Chopper can do anyway, the kid can set a broken bone but not a broken heart.

His nakama give him space. Most of them have lost someone in their time too, so they know that there's nothing that you can say to make it better. Nami comes to visit him with food and so does Robin, he tries to make himself feel awful about their having to cook but he can’t seem to make himself fit any more terrible feelings into himself so he accepts their food numbly. At least none of them try to convince him that the world he just lost or the people in it weren’t real, they all know the truth about that.

The reactions of the ladies differ wildly. Nami is angry on his behalf and distraught for him, she keeps apologizing but neither of them seem to know what for. Robin on the other hand is quiet, she doesn’t demand conversation from him and unlike Nami she doesn’t feel the need to insist that he “talk it out”. Instead she sits quietly and strokes his hair, she asks him once if he wants her to kill the oracle for him but Sanji knows that it won’t make things better.

Chopper tells him that if he wants to talk he’s there for him but Sanji can’t bear to burden someone so young with his pain when it won’t help.

After two days he decides that enough is enough and he needs to go back to doing his job, if just because he should and it might keep his mind off of things. He wouldn't mind so much if it wasn't for the fact that he's so unstable. He can be looking through the fridge for ingredients and suddenly lose it because he remembers eating strawberry pancakes with Zoro, which he can't ever do again because Zoro is DEAD. Then he just crumples into sobs and feels awful all over again.

Zoro comes to speak to him for the first time a few hours after Sanji laid eyes on him since it happened. Much to his shame he fell apart and sobbed the first time he saw Zoro, it was just too raw. When Zoro slides awkwardly into the kitchen though Sanji glances over his shoulder and just manages to hold it together. There’s that awful feeling of rightness and wrongness when he sees him, part of him just recognises him as Zoro and is desperate to run to him but the other half knows full well that whilst Zoro is nakama he’s not the Zoro that Sanji is looking for.

“Yeah?” He asks in a flat voice since Zoro hasn’t made a sound.

“I… wanted to talk to you.” Zoro mumbles and pauses. He’s clearly trying to think of how to phrase what he’s saying, his hand is nervously tangling in the short green hair at the back of his head, his fingers tensing and loosening through it.

Sanji’s chest clenches painfully, his Zoro did that, his Zoro showed that kind of nervousness and stress. He remembers thinking that the Zoro that he’d known from here never showed that kind of emotion. Stupidly he almost thinks that he’s looking at the Zoro that he loves and it hurts all over again. Zoro must read some of that emotion in his face because he startles and starts talking again.

“Do… do you want me to go away? I mean, do you want me to stay away from you?” He asks suddenly, his words sounding awkward and rushed.

The question surprises Sanji, it’s so out of the blue that he doesn’t even know what to say to that. Zoro glances down at the swords on his hip and slowly pulls the white one and its sheath free and lays it on the counter before Sanji. Sanji looks down at it without understanding.

“The girl who this belonged to died.” Zoro states tapping it with his finger.

“I know that.” Sanji answers because although Zoro’s never told him directly they all know each other’s stories. It’s not that they’ve not told each other because they don’t want the others to know, just that it can be too painful to tell again and again so they tell each other’s.

“Do you remember Smoker?” Zoro questions apparently randomly.

“What the hell does that have to do with anything?” Sanji frowns unable to keep up with the conversation. What on earth does him remembering Smoker have to do with him or with Zoro’s sword?

“The girl- the woman that was with him. You remember her?” Zoro presses.

“Yeah, I can’t remember her name. Taka-something. You were really weird then.” He replies reluctantly going along with this weird conversation.

“I guess I was. She looks just like Kuina would have looked. She looks just like I’d always imagined her looking if she hadn’t died and had got the chance to grow up. I know because I dream about her regularly, what it would be like if she hadn’t died, or if our places had been changed…” Zoro trails off with a note of pain in his voice. The swordsman’s hand is resting gently on the hilt of his precious sword, his index finger absently tracing the path of the wrap on the hilt.

“I couldn’t handle it. Seeing her looking so like Kuina. That kind of pain never really goes, it’ll scar but never really heal and seeing Tashigi just opened it up all over again.” Zoro explains with a sigh.

Zoro glances up at him with dark eyes and Sanji realises his meaning. Zoro thinks that he is going to cause him the same pain and is offering to stay the hell away from Sanji to protect him. Stupid idiot. Zoro seems to take his stunned silence as an affirmation and nods to himself, he goes to pick up his sword and leave when Sanji catches him. He tightens his grip on Zoro’s wrist to hold him there.

“Don’t go.” He breathes shakily.

Sanji looks up at Zoro who eyes him with a mixture of cautiousness and curiosity.

“I can’t lose both of you.” He adds quietly.

“Well, okay.” Zoro agrees. A part of Sanji notes that Zoro looks pleased to hear that outcome. Sanji releases Zoro’s warm skin and Zoro tucks his precious white sword back in its place.

“If there’s anything I can do to help.” The man offers with a vague gesture to the kitchen and Sanji.

“I doubt that there’s anything that anyone can do, I feel like shit all the time.” Sanji mutters rubbing the heel of his palm in his eye, his eyes always feel itchy from crying lately. Zoro’s laugh startles him into staring at the marimo.

“You’re sort of supposed to feel like that, idiot. It’s part of the deal.” Zoro says with a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“Well I didn’t agree to that deal, you unsympathetic bastard.” Sanji snaps angrily. How can Zoro be so blunt at a time like this?

“My sympathy ‘aint gonna help shit.” Zoro shrugs at him.

“Get outta my kitchen you sociopath!” Sanji snarls, rounding the kitchen counter to kick the shit out of Zoro. Zoro smartly backs up and pauses at the open door.

“Do you feel like shit now?” Zoro questions with a sly little grin that looks like it’d be more at home on Robin’s face than his.

Sanji pauses at that. How does he feel? He feels angry and irritated with a little bit of wounded pride for good measure. But… well, okay now he feels like shit again for realising that he forgot about his Zoro for a few moments. But equally for a moment he didn’t feel like shit.

“Anything I can do.” Zoro repeats and disappears before Sanji can either burst into tears or murder him. Sanji’s torn on which to do so for a while at least he does neither.

Zoro’s jaw is set in a tense furious line, the muscles of his back stand in tense bunches underneath his t-shirt as the man sits with his back to him.

“Zoro?” Sanji calls and comes closer to Zoro. The man’s shoulders tense even further.

“Get away from me.” Zoro growls in a voice filled with venom.

“Zoro what’s wrong?” Sanji asks ignoring the command from his nakama. His hand lands gently on Zoro’s shoulder.

Zoro turns suddenly then, smacking Sanji’s arm away with his own. His face is etched in anger and his eyes are bloodshot and red. As his mouth twists into a snarl a section of the skin on his high bronze cheekbones peels off and flutters away into a petal leaving behind a bleeding wound. Sanji recoils in horror.

“What’s the matter Sanji? Too hard for you to see the real consequences?” Zoro growls threateningly. Dark red blood seeps down his cheek and another petal shaped flake of skin peels away leaving another bloody hole.

“You think being obliterated like that didn’t hurt?” Zoro demands, shoving Sanji in the chest.

“I didn’t- I didn’t ask for that! I never chose that, you shoved me out!” He retorts defensively in fear. Zoro looks like he could kill right now and Sanji isn’t entirely sure that he doesn’t deserve it.

“You chose it! You wished into existence just to fulfil your sick desires because you’re a coward and a pervert!” the swordsman curses him and in a smooth movement pulls free that white sword.

“I’ll kill you for what you did to me!” Zoro declares and swings the blade high.

Sanji’s scream echoes loudly through the room as he lands sharply on the floor. He sees Zoro crouched by his side and he screams in fear for a second before he realises that it had just been a nightmare and this Zoro wasn’t trying to kill him at all, no matter how much he deserved it.

“Zoro, you’re making it worse. Let him calm down.” Franky’s deep voice commands from somewhere out of sight and with a regretful face Zoro disappears and is replaced by Luffy’s worried looking face so close as to almost be out of focus.

He assures everyone with a shaky voice that he’s fine and climbs back in his hammock to prove it, there’s no reason to worry the others or keep anyone else awake. Usopp reaches for the lamp light above his hammock but pauses and looks down at Sanji in his low slung hammock. His long nose resting on the edge of the hammock would look almost comical if Sanji was in the mood for laughing.

“I had bad dreams too after my mother died. They go away, eventually.” Usopp says quietly to him and clicks the light off. Sanji hears Franky mutter Tom’s name and the creak of Zoro’s hand tightening on the wraps of Wado’s hilt. A sad noise comes from both Brook and Chopper’s direction and above him Sanji can hear Luffy patting his hat. Sanji doesn’t go back to sleep after that but he can hear that it takes everyone else an awful long time to drop back to sleep as well, clearly his pain is reminding everyone else of their own.

Over the next week Sanji stops crying, crying makes him feel worse and not better. When he’s been upset in the past crying felt like opening the stopper of a barrel of pain and letting some of it drain out, cry enough or feel sad for long enough and it would dry up, but with this it feels endless. The others have as much said that it’s never going to completely go away so what’s the point in crying? It won’t bring Zoro back, it won’t undo what was done, all it does is hurt him. So he focuses on doing his job and skirts over moments that feel precarious and might have made him cry before. If his mind settles on Zoro he forces himself to think of something else, anything else, until he feels stable again.

It starts working because before long he can sleep properly again, the dreams of Zoro falling apart or trying to kill him stop about halfway through the first week and after that Sanji sleeps soundly. In fact he sleeps a lot, he hits the hay earlier than he did before and wakes up late, if he can he manages to nap in the middle of the day. He doesn’t feel so sad anymore, he feels more numb or hollow, but mostly he feels tired. He finds himself lethargic as if he had slept for two hours rather that for ten hours straight.

Still, he manages to do his job, he cooks three square meals a day for the crew. Okay, they might not be the best thing that he’s ever cooked, to his pallet they always taste off somehow, as if something is missing. He tries playing with the spices and herbs but it always tastes slightly flat, nothing seems to change it so he stops caring so much about that.

Zoro tries to start a fight with him a few times, it’s sort of a sweet gesture but Sanji just can’t work up the energy anymore. Two weeks after the… incident Chopper brings the subject up at dinner time.

“Sanji, you’ve been sleeping a lot lately. Do you feel tired?” Chopper asks him in a slightly stiff voice.

“Hm, yeah. I feel like I’ve not slept at all.” Sanji says stifling a yawn behind his hand and going back to stirring his frankly lacklustre soup until it cools.

“But you went to bed pretty early last night, and you slept in pretty late too. About eleven hours in total in fact, that’s almost half a day asleep.” The little doctor continues. Sanji shrugs because what can he say? He doesn’t know why he’s so tired lately.

“And I’ve noticed that the nightmares seem to have stopped.” Chopper continues in his medical voice.

“Meh, I’m not dreaming at all.” Sanji comments feeling bored. His soup is cool enough now so he starts on it, not that he feels especially hungry though.

“Really.” The reindeer remarks.

Sanji looks up at that and notices almost everyone at the table either deliberately not looking at him or looking at him surreptitiously, except for Zoro who is as subtle as a falling piano and is outright eyeballing him.

“What’s this about?” Sanji asks frowning at Chopper who is looking at him with a worried and thoughtful look on his face.

“I’m just trying to confirm something. Tell me, you’ve seemed a bit off with your cooking lately. Are you enjoying it? Do you still feel hungry?” Chopper presses looking at him with serious eyes.

“No, I don’t feel especially hungry but I’m not sick or anything Chopper. I’m perfectly healthy honest.” He smiles weakly at Chopper. The doctor’s concern is sweet, but unwarranted.

“And this? I could cook better.” Zoro challenges, poking the edge of his own soup bowl a little too hard and sloshing some out of the side. Sanji would have half a mind to smash the marimo’s face in it for that but he can’t be bothered, and it’s not as if his violence has instilled any manners in the man thus far is it?

“I’m just a little off okay? I don’t know why, I’ve tried playing with the spices but it doesn’t seem to work. So…” He trails off with a shrug.

“So what?” Zoro challenges with a glare, “There’s no point? You don’t care?”

“It’s not that, it’s just… I don’t know, I can’t fix it right now. What’s your problem anyway?” Sanji shoots back irritated. Why the hell is Zoro getting on his back about the goddamn food? It’s still better than he’d get if he cooked for himself or if anyone else cooked!

“Sanji, the things that you’ve described, the things that we’ve noticed… lack of appetite, sleeping too much, not being able to focus on things or enjoying things you used to; these are all symptoms of depression.” Chopper says before Zoro can say anything else to irritate Sanji.

Sanji levels the little reindeer with an unimpressed look but the doctor doesn’t back down or take back what he said. The kid can be brave when he believes that he’s looking after the health of his nakama.

“Of course I feel depressed, what would you expect after- after what happened?” Sanji says quickly skirting around talking about what happened. Whenever he does it’s as if he can feel something bubbling up in his mind, but if he avoids the topic mentally he doesn’t end up cracking or having his emotions boil over.

“Depression isn’t the same as feeling sad Sanji, feeling sad would be healthy here! You’re just repressing what happened and the rest of your mental health is suffering for it!” Chopper exclaims angrily, standing up suddenly and leaving over his little hooves on the dining table.

“We’re just concerned Sanji.” Nami adds softly. Sanji realises that everyone at the table is looking at him, they must have planned to bring this up. Distantly he realises that he should feel outraged but the most he can seem to feel is slightly irked.

“I’m fine.” He sighs wearily waving them away with his hand.

“You’re not FINE! You don’t feel anything anymore, the old Sanji would have kicked my head off by now for insulting you!” Zoro yells, slamming his fists on the table and making all of the cutlery jump and clatter.

“You’re walking around like you’re dead or something!” the swordsman accuses vehemently.

“Hey, that’s not fair.” Brook protests from the other end of the table in his sing-song voice.

“See! The dead man at the table is more alive than you; he’s got more feeling than you!” Zoro shouts pointing at the musician.

“You’re being ridiculous. How I deal with this is my business.” Sanji glares up at Zoro who is standing angrily at the table with his clenched fists pressed into the tabletop.

“You’re being a coward and letting this rot inside you will just kill you!” Zoro snaps pointing at him accusingly.

“I’m not a coward.” He retorts narrowing his eyes at Zoro.

“You ARE. You’re choosing to feel nothing because it’s easier than the pain, that’s cowardice.” The other man declares with quiet menace in his voice.

Zoro looks away then, his eyes narrowing as he glares at the wall. Sanji thinks that he can read some emotion on his face, disgust perhaps?

“I don’t even know what he saw in you.” Zoro mutters.

He needn’t have been so quiet because his words strike Sanji so much that Zoro might as well have cut them into his flesh with his swords. Suddenly Sanji finds that he can hear his blood pounding in his ears and it feels like his entire mind is boiling over now and he can’t avoid it.

Flashes of memories sear themselves behind his eyes, his Zoro on their first oh-so-awkward first date, his Zoro smiling at him sleepily in bed in the morning, his Zoro passed out over his detective work. Zoro doesn’t know what that man saw in him? He doesn’t think he deserved the life that he so briefly had and treasured so deeply?

His foot swings through the space that just seconds ago was occupied by Zoro’s head. The swordsman has darted back, his chair behind him falling over at the moment, Zoro’s practiced at avoiding near-fatal kicks. Sanji is seeing red though, how dare Zoro say such a thing? The fucker wouldn’t know love if it kicked him in the nuts, Zoro is calling him emotionless? He’s the one who can’t feel a thing for anyone!

He leaps the table and swings for Zoro again who by now has two swords out to block him. Zoro catches his kicks with the blades and shoves back, trying to push him off balance.

“What’s the matter cook? Can’t take feeling something for once?” Zoro goads him.

Sanji hears Nami and Chopper yelling at Zoro not to anger him, not to say such terrible things but Zoro clearly isn’t listening and neither is Sanji really. Sanji hurls himself bodily at the green-haired man instead of kicking him. The unexpected move shoves Zoro back and out of the galley door.

Getting his bearings back Zoro leaps the balcony and lands on the lawn deck below so Sanji can’t corner him and get too close as to be too far into his range.

“What’s the matter cook? You said that you were in love with him but you don’t feel a goddamn thing, he’s dead and don’t you care!” Zoro yells up at him.

Sanji hurls himself off of the balcony with every intent of murdering the man, nakama or not. He pulls his foot back as he lands but something inside him destabilises.

Zoro is dead.

He’s gone, forever.

Suddenly Sanji can’t seem to get enough air into his lungs, he feels like he’s drowning and choking at the same time. His vision blurs as his eyes fill, but his eyes are clear enough to see Zoro drop his swords carelessly into the ground and step forward just in time to catch him as Sanji nearly doubles up in grief.

He howls in pain into Zoro’s shoulder. It’s as if every moment of nothingness that he chose instead of the constant grief is piling itself into his brain all at once and it’s excruciating. He heaves great wracking sobs into Zoro’s shoulder as the man’s large warm right hand slides down his back and rubs soothing circles there.

“You are still in there.” Zoro breathes gratefully against his neck and strokes his left hand through Sanji’s hair.

Sanji can’t focus though, he’s not sure if Zoro is making this better or worse. Part of him wants to crawl into Zoro’s arms forever and let the man hold him until his pain goes completely but another part of him is just screaming that his Zoro, the one that loved him, is dead and this Zoro is just looking out for him out of honour.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay. I promise.” Zoro says quietly to him.

“You can’t say that!” Sanji sobs against him. He feels Zoro’s muscles tense under him at that, Zoro doesn’t like being told that there’s nothing that he can do about something. Sanji wishes that there was something Zoro could do, that anyone could do, but he doesn’t think that things are ever going to be alright again.


	16. Chapter 16

Zoro watches carefully as Sanji pads barefoot out of the men's bunk room and stretches in the sun with a yawn. Sanji was still sleeping too much but at least he isn't numb anymore, he has moments of melancholy but equally he is starting to smile again in fleeting moments. His cooking still tastes strange though and he still isn't eating with any enthusiasm, Zoro can't help but be worried that Sanji is just going to slide back into that awful depression again.

"It's good to see Sanji all better again." Nami comments from her sun lounger on the lawn nearby.

"Don't be stupid." Zoro grumbles and watches Sanji move sleepily past the portholes in the galley. Nami glowers at him for that but doesn't threaten to raise his debt thankfully.

"Nami has a point, he's much better since you had that fight with him. Except for the crying." Usopp adds from his wooden platform of chemicals and tools where he does his sharpshooter work early before Luffy can charge through it and wreck everything.

"That's even dumber. He's not better, he's just improved a little." Zoro says dismissively and stares at Sanji rifling through the fridge. The cook pauses and leans on the counter and wipes at his eyes, Zoro glances away just in time to not be caught looking by Sanji, Sanji was having a hard enough time without knowing that there were spectators to his agony.

"Still," Nami muses with a thoughtful look on her face, "I'd never have thought Sanji to be the type to be interested in guys as well."

Zoro ignores the unsaid ‘especially someone like you Zoro’ hanging in the air between him and the navigator and goes back to surreptitiously watching the cook.

"Really? The perfect suits and flowery shirts didn't tip you off? Or the poetic language? You're lucky he's into women at all." Usopp snorts mixing two dangerous looking powders together.

Zoro shakes his head as Nami and Usopp bicker about whether Sanji was obvious about his sexual preferences. He tunes out a little because he's never understood anyone having any preferences at all.

"Anyway! I'm not being stupid Zoro, I know he's not completely better but he's getting there, baby steps." Usopp argues back. Zoro grunts noncommittally at that, he doubts it'll be that easy.

"I have to agree with Zoro. Depression isn't something that one fight can cure or something that you get better from in a linear way like flu." Chopper adds knowledgeably from near Nami's feet.

"See?" Zoro shoots back at Nami and Usopp who both pull displeased faces at him.

"Indeed for some depression once it's started can be a lifelong affliction. It's not well understood or easily cured." Chopper says quietly.

"Lifelong?!" Zoro exclaims horrified. He knew that this wasn't going to be easy but he didn't expect that helping Sanji get better might be impossible!

Chopper nods at him seriously and Zoro feels ice run through his veins. If Sanji was going to be numb like that again could he fight properly? What if some suicidal impulse overtook him and he didn't fight back against some marine? Thankfully suicidal tendencies were the one symptom that Sanji hadn't shown so far, but it wasn't out of the question. What if Sanji found All Blue and couldn't bring himself to care? No, this couldn't be lifelong, Zoro wouldn't allow it! He needed to see Sanji's sparkle back, he needed to see the blonde smiling and full of life.

"No, there must be something that we can do to help." Zoro frowns unhappily.

"We can be there for him, try to be positive for him. But I think this is something he has to do himself, it's not like we can just wish his pain away because we don't like it." Usopp shrugs.

Zoro's eyes widen. How could he not see such an obvious solution? This stupid wishing business caused this supernatural problem that was hurting Sanji, so couldn't he wish to reverse it? He leaps up and runs down the gangplank of the ship that connects them to this cursed island.

"Oi Zoro! Where the hell are you going? We're supposed to be leaving this afternoon, I don't wanna spend more time here than we have to!" Nami yells after him over the railing of the ship.

"I'll be back by then!" he shouts back and hurtles down the path as fast as his feet will carry him. He rushes through the lotus fields and through the village until he skids through the archway of the temple that is wound tight with lotus flowers. He bumps into the archway scattering the sickly sweet pollen on himself. He glances about and catches a glimpse of the Oracle kneeling down by a pool of tranquil water tending to the lotuses.

"Well you got here fast." she says without looking up at him. He sucks in great breaths of air and opens his mouth to speak but she speaks again before he can.

"Think before you talk, hmm?" she sighs and stands up wiping her hands on a towel and fixing him a slow contemplative look.

Zoro does shut up then and thinks carefully. He wants Sanji's pain gone but he needs to think carefully about what he wants to wish for, he's already seen what she'll do with a vague wish. No, he needs to be smart about this. If he wishes for something stupid like Sanji's pain to be gone she could easily do something like make him permanently emotionally numb or kill him. No, he needs to think of a solution, something concrete that she can’t ruin.

"Can you bring him back? The other Zoro I mean?" Zoro asks thoughtfully and careful not to say the w-word until he’s certain. He's not sure how he'd feel seeing Sanji loved up with someone else who is for all intents and purposes, him. But it's Sanji's happiness that's important here, not how comfortable he is with something like that.

"No can do, when that world collapsed it took him with it. Even if I COULD re-create him he wouldn't share any of the memories that he and Sanji had together." She says lightly with a look that entreats him to try again.

Zoro scrunches his brow and thinks, his plan had been to bring the other Zoro back, even if it meant swapping places. But what could he do now? This would all have been so much simpler if he'd been able to accept Sanji's offer in the galley all those weeks ago. Then Sanji had just thought the other would had been some kind of lesson to bring them together. If he had just been able to feel something when Sanji had pressed their lips together then this whole problem could have been averted.

...wait.

"Can you change me then? Can you make me feel for Sanji what that Zoro did? Can you make me attracted to him? Can you fix me?" Zoro asks wide eyed with the possibility.

"You don't need fixing, you're not broken. There's nothing wrong with being asexual." The oracle frowns rather defensively.

"Answer the question!" Zoro demands irritably, he's had enough of her side-stepping and scheming ways.

"I can make you attracted to people. But there's no certainty that you'll be attracted to him, or even that you being attracted to him will result in anything other than disaster. You already think that I twist people's wishes deliberately when they're not difficult to make, so why risk it all on this? And what if he doesn’t want you? What if you’re too similar to the other Zoro and Sanji can’t handle it? Why would you wish for that?" She demands with a frown.

“I’m doing this for Sanji, so are you going to grant my wish or not?” Zoro answers, he doesn’t need to justify himself to this meddling woman.

“What if you don’t care about you dream anymore? What if it all becomes about him?” She presses him further.

“I know myself better than that.” Zoro answers with certainty.

“And you’re asking me to change you, you don’t know who you’ll become!” she points out irritably, stamping her foot on the ground.

“Why would you wish for this when there is such a small chance that it would work?” She yells like a petulant child.

"Because he deserves a chance! If I have the opportunity to take his pain away, even if the chance that it'll work is tiny then I have to do it!" Zoro argues. Sanji wasn't a man who lived for certainty, he'd risked his life and nearly died many times looking for an ocean that had only a slim chance of being real, but that was enough for him. And it was enough for Zoro too.

"You really don't care do you? You're willing to let me mess around with your brain, to change who you are forever, just so he has a chance of feeling better." The oracle says with her expression softening.

Suddenly her expression changes into a small catlike smirk and Zoro realizes that she was faking her reactions, although why eludes him.

“So, you’re willing to do anything and risk anything to have even the smallest chance of making your Sanji’s life better. That’s pretty selfless stuff right there, it outghta do the trick.” She grins at him and turns her back on him. She waves her hand above the pool of water and a flower rises up on its stem like a snake charmed from a basket. She flickers her fingers over it and the flower’s petals take on a golden lustre. Seemingly satisfied she plucks it and turns back to him with it in her hand and a coy smile on her face.

“Wishing for love, selfish. Wishing for love to soothe the heart of someone you care about, selfless. It’s a funny little system.” She muses to herself, twirling the lotus in her fingers thoughtfully. Zoro reaches to take the lotus and his wish from her.

“Before I give you this…” she begins and pulls the flower back. Zoro groans, he should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. He levels her his best ‘this had better be good’ look.

“Do you want to know what Sanji’s wish actually was?” She asks with a smirk.

“What? I thought you said it was for us all to be safe, to be protected.” Zoro says confused. They’d all heard about the detail of Sanji’s wish. The way he was cruelly asked to choose between protecting the ones he loved and upholding his honour to his nakama and fighting with them to ensure their safety.

“Ah, it was. Sort of. This is the problem with vague, wishy-washy wishes. Sanji didn’t have anything specific, he didn’t have a fully formed idea in his head so I had a lot to choose from and play with.” The oracle answers with a half shrug.

“And you chose to torture him.” He growls in accusation. He might be here asking this woman for help now, but it doesn’t mean that he’s forgiven her for what she did to Sanji, he won’t ever forgive her for that.

“If you want to see it that way then sure. His wish was so unspecific, if I was to be literal I would have put him on a calm island in the middle of a storm. He just wanted all the chaos of your adventures to stop, he wanted to keep you all safe but was well aware that doing so was impossible with your dreams. Still he wanted something that he didn’t have to fight for, something that he could feel that was safe from being taken away from him, he wanted some respite. And, being the man he is, he wanted to be loved by someone as well and the man is remarkably picky when it comes to imagining his ideal partner, which happens to be someone like you when you stop being an ass to him.” She answers giving Zoro an assessing look.

Zoro considers this carefully. He can see why Sanji wanted that, it felt sometimes like they all just bounced from one death defying situation to another. If he wasn’t so eager to defeat Mihawk as soon as possible himself then he might feel like he just wanted the journey to stop or slow down at little to give them some breathing space. But if you couldn’t have that then having something that would make surviving all those near deaths worth it would be a good alternative, and for Sanji that was someone who loved him. It was someone that he could come back to the ship with, someone that he could admit that he was scared for his nakama to, someone who loved him and perhaps, if this wish went right, then Sanji could maybe find that in him.

“So are you going to give me my very specific wish or not?” He asks impatiently holding his hand out.

“Sure. You know, this whole thing… this changing your brain all for his sake seems less like the actions of a man who wants to fall in love to save someone and more like the actions of someone who is already in love.” She muses in an all too innocent voice as she drops the flower into Zoro’s waiting hand.

“We’re nakama, it’s what we do.” Zoro points out and brings the flower up to his eyes between his thumb and forefinger.

“I don’t see the others rushing to get here to do that for him.” The oracle points out correctly. Zoro ignores her, he knows his own mind, if the others aren’t here it’s because the idea didn’t occur to them or they knew that it wouldn’t work with them in his place. He’s not in love with Sanji, not yet anyway.

Before the oracle girl can say another word or try to trick him he eats the flower whole, stem and all. After a few moments of chewing it goes down his throat just fine. He stands there expectantly with the oracle watching him in a slightly disinterested manner. There’s no sudden rush of blood to his head, no loss of consciousness, no sudden and overwhelming feelings about Sanji.

A whole lot of nothing in total.

He gives the oracle an assessing look. Her dress, like before, is slightly see-through. He peers at her curiously but finds the glimpses of her body no more arousing than before, which is to say, not at all. He glances out across the temple courtyard and sees a man walking down the street with a large bag slung over his back. Again, Zoro assesses him and once again finds his lack of interest overwhelming.

“It didn’t work.” He says glowering at her.

“Hm, I thought as much. Here, look this up with your little doctor friend when you get back to your ship.” The oracle muses and scribbles something down on a lotus leaf. She folds it quickly in half and hands it to Zoro. He opens it and glances at it but it seems to be some medical term that he knows nothing about.

“Well, that’s your lot. Don’t you have a ship to catch or something?” The oracle asks raising a dark eyebrow at him and shooing him away with her hands.

Zoro glowers at the oracle for a few seconds before flipping her off and stomping away back through the town. So the stupid wish did nothing then? There goes his chance at helping Sanji. At least he tried though, and it’s not as if he can’t still be there for the cook and help him get better the old fashioned non-magical-flower way. And he supposes that at least he isn’t having some god-awful side effect from the wish, a null outcome isn’t the worst that could have happened here. Sanji is more than warning of that.

Still, he keeps his eyes on any townspeople that he passes in case a sudden wave of lust hits him. Nothing does of course so by the time he makes it back to the ship he’s thoroughly unhappy.

“Oi, Zoro! Where the hell have you been? What were you up to out there?!” Nami demands in her irritating squawk. Zoro looks up at her and is relieved to find himself as apathetic about her feminine form as he ever was, thank goodness.

“Nothing, as it turns out.” He grumbles and noisily thunks his way up the gangplank to the ship in his heavy boots. He grabs the gangplank and hauls it up behind him, depositing it through the hatch to the store room below. Nami and the others are making preparations to leave as they were talking about when he left. He could have saved them all a lot of time and just-

His thoughts are cut short when the galley door swings open and Sanji emerges. Zoro doesn’t know what he was expecting, a choir of angels or something, but he certainly wasn’t expecting this. His stomach feels like he’s just leapt off of something suicidally high and he can feel his heart kicking into higher gear. Sanji looks, well, beautiful isn’t the word. It wouldn’t be with that silly almost-facial-hair and that dumb eyebrow. But, well, Sanji has just the right amount of shimmy in his hips when he walks and Zoro is struck by the revelation that Sanji’s legs seem to go on forever.

Sanji’s blonde hair swings forward fluidly as the man leans over the railing to ask Nami if they’re going yet. Zoro swallows a lump in his throat as his eyes land on Sanji’s hands. His fingers are long and dexterous, oh the things that Sanji can do with those talented hands, things that he might do to him. Or… might have already done to him, the other version of him that is. Just how far did the two of them get? Did the other Zoro perhaps get to see Sanji… naked?

Zoro’s seen Sanji naked before now but now that he’s remembering it the idea of it Sanji naked seems an awful lot different. He knows that Sanji is long and lean with powerful but compact muscles wrapping around his long frame and that Sanji has abs so hard that you could bounce pennies off of them. He can just imagine what it might be like to actually touch Sanji’s body like that.

Sanji, apparently satisfied with whatever it is that Nami had said to him turns to head back to the galley. Zoro feels his jaw actually drop a little at that because Sanji’s backside is… is just… wow. He’s never felt the urge to grope anyone or anything in his entire life until now, he’s never even really understood the point of it but he knows deep down in every fibre of his being that he really REALLY wants to grope Sanji’s butt.

“What the hell kind of look is that Zoro?” Usopp’s voice cuts sharply through his thoughts and Zoro snaps to attention and sees Usopp giving him the most dangerously curious look the swordsman has ever seen from where he’s sitting on the stairs up to the galley. The sharpshooter has had a front row seat to Zoro’s staring at Sanji this whole time!

“What look? I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Zoro answers perhaps a little too quickly and tries to do his best to will the redness in his face away.

“That look, the one that makes you look like a thirteen year old that’s just discovered porn.” Usopp says loudly, giving him an incredulous look.

Zoro’s peripheral vision quite clearly clocks Sanji’s sudden stop and his now frozen posture. Panic fills Zoro, Sanji is going to know and why on earth did he ever think that this was a good idea?

“I- uh, have to- ah… bye!” He stammers out and leaps down the hatch into the men’s bunkroom. He panics desperately trying to find somewhere to hide, but shy of locking himself in the bathroom there’s nowhere to go! He’s considering climbing out of one of the portholes when Sanji lands with a thud on the floor underneath the hatch to the men’s bunkroom having completely bypassed the stairs.

Sanji straightens up slowly and gives him a slow suspicious look. He holds his breath and stands his ground hoping that he’ll pass Sanji’s suspicious look and the cook will go away. Sanji walks towards him slowly with a little bit of that hypnotising sway in his hips, it’s not a womanly hip jiggle by any means, but Sanji has long legs and narrow hips that Zoro would very much like to wrap his hands around.

His eyes widen as he tries to snap his mind away from those kind of thoughts and tries to keep a neutral expression on his face. It’s obvious that by now the lotus did what he wished for, he clearly should have had the forethought to wish for a little self-control with his new emotions and thoughts too.

“What the hell was that?” Sanji asks carefully, his one blue eye narrowing at him.

“What was what?” Zoro replies innocently. Focus, focus, he can manage this. He keeps his eyes firmly locked onto Sanji’s and stands his ground.

“That panicked look, you’re bright red. And what was Usopp talking about?” Sanji presses. That’s not fair, Sanji shouldn’t be allowed to be so clever when Zoro feels like his brains have been replaced by pudding.

“Uhm…” Zoro hedges trying to buy his brain more time to come up with a coherent lie.

Sanji’s lips press together in a tight irritated line and Zoro’s eyes drop to his mouth. Sanji has kissed him already, he didn’t have the sense to react properly, he certainly would now. In fact those lips look-

Zoro snaps his eyes back up to Sanji’s hoping that the cook hasn’t noticed his distraction but he’s clearly shit out of luck right now.

“What?” Sanji says slowly. Zoro’s pretty sure that Sanji’s not actually talking to him, just thinking out loud. Zoro takes a hesitant step back and bangs his heels into the wall behind him, when did that happen? He was standing his ground a moment ago, several feet away in fact, surely he’s not been backing away from Sanji this whole time without realising it?

Sanji steps forward again into Zoro’s personal space and his hand lands threateningly by Zoro’s head. Sanji leans in, probably to shout at him, or to level him with the full force of his glare up close. Sanji doesn’t glare though, instead his eyes are shockingly wide. Zoro doesn’t understand Sanji’s sudden frozen posture until he hears the cook inhale deeply.

“What have you done?” Sanji gasps stumbling back away from him with horror decorating his fine features.

“I- I don’t-” Zoro stammers, reaching for Sanji out of instinct.

“You smell like those damn flowers! There’s even pollen on your shirt!” Sanji spits angrily and walks in tight angry circles. Zoro glances at his shoulder and spies a blush of golden pollen from where he bumped into the flowers at the temple earlier.

“What did you do?!” Sanji demands again fiercely, his fists balled angrily at his sides.

“I was just trying to help, I wanted to fix things!” Zoro exclaims desperately. He realises that his mistake was stupid, this isn’t going to help Sanji at all, and it’ll probably traumatise him further. And he’ll be lonely now without Sanji, now that he understands what he could have, now that he can really imagine how good it could be because Sanji isn’t going to want him. Aside from the consideration of what a man like Sanji would want with someone like him there’s the question of how he thought walking around with Sanji’s dead lover’s face on and professing his affections for the cook was a good idea.

“What did you DO?!” Sanji yells again barrelling forward and seizing Zoro’s shirt in his fists and shoving Zoro hard up against the wall of the bunkroom and actually lifting him off of the floor a little. He should be scared or angry at Sanji’s treatment. Instead his reaction is something quite different. Even before he ate that stupid flower and made his stupid wish he thought that righteous fury was a good look on Sanji. Now though with Sanji’s long lean body pressed against him and his face a picture of anger Zoro wants to do nothing else but bat the man’s hands away and tumble Sanji to the floor.

Clearly his expression is obvious because Sanji stumbles backwards with wide shocked eyes. He shakes his head rapidly.

“No, no. I’m losing it, you don’t feel anything for me. You made that much clear!” the cook snaps shaking his head again and looking disbelievingly at him. He’s always been a poor liar and an open book to any who want to read him, so Sanji is clearly seeing his every desire spelled out on his face right now.

“I wanted- I hoped I could help. So… I made a wish.” Zoro explains quietly feeling foolish.

“You wished for her to turn you on or something?!” Sanji yells, out of shock or anger Zoro can’t tell.

“No! You were just in so much pain I couldn’t stand it! And I thought that maybe if I could feel for you what he did then I might make it better, even just a little bit.” He explains quickly. Sanji looks at him with comically wide eyes and his jaw hanging open, if Zoro wasn’t in so much shit he might have laughed at that.

“Not that I can recall why the hell I thought that! How is me pining after you for forever going to help anyone at all? I mean, what would someone like you want with someone like me? Even if you weren’t heartbroken I doubt that-” Zoro babbles in horror at what he’s done.

“How- how dare you?! You’re not him!” Sanji screams furiously at him.

“I don’t want to be him! I wanted to be me, I just wanted to be enough for you! I wanted you to be okay again!” Zoro snaps feeling an irrational wave of jealousy run through him. Suddenly he wants to hunt down and kill anyone else who has ever so much as touched the cook, he wants to gather Sanji up and press them together and selfishly keep him all to himself.

He gasps stumbling backwards into one of the supporting beams of the men’s bunkroom that the hammocks are slung from. He’s breathing like he’s just run a marathon and his skin is itching to touch Sanji.

“God, do you feel like this all the time?” He gasps in horror, clutching a hand to his hammering heart.

Sanji advances forward, catching his arm. The contact of bare skin sends a delicious wave of want through Zoro’s nervous system.

“Tell me what you feel, what else has that bitch done to you? I swear if you die I’ll murder every person on this fucking island.” Sanji growls deeply. Zoro’s hips twitch slightly at that note in Sanji’s voice and from the surprised and dazed expression on Sanji’s face Zoro can guess that he felt it.

“I feel…” He pants breathlessly as his head lolls forward onto Sanji’s shoulder, “I feel dizzy, my heart’s beating like mad, I feel like I can’t breathe and all I can think about is…” He trails off as his hand hovers treacherously a few centimetres from Sanji’s hip, it takes all his willpower to keep it there and not touch the cook.

Sanji glances down between them and then back up at Zoro’s flushed face.

“I don’t feel like that, not all of the time, no.” Sanji answers a little reluctantly. He looks to the side and closes his eyes clearly trying to think. He bites his bottom lip nervously and lets it slowly escape his mouth shiny and tempting. Zoro has only a limited amount of restraint and it’s all gone now.

He surges forward and captures Sanji’s mouth against his own. He’s new to this but he knows what he wants, even if he’s not quite sure how to get it. Sanji’s mouth opens to let a needy little sound out and Zoro takes the opportunity to bite his lip and then lick along the mark that he left. Then Sanji leans back into him and kisses him properly, the cook’s tongue dances in his mouth and Zoro is happy to let him lead because following him is bliss. After what feels perplexingly like forever and not long enough Sanji pulls himself away with a gasp.

The cook’s face is red and his visible eye is big and dark, he’s breathing noticeably heavier now as well.

“This… this is a terrible idea. This is not the right way to get over this.” Sanji pants, backing up until he’s leaning against the wall opposite Zoro. Zoro would chase him over there but he’s not sure that his legs will support him, that kiss from Sanji left his knees feeling like jelly.

“You… you need to be checked over by Chopper.” Sanji states and dashes off out of the room.

As it turns out there’s nothing medically wrong with him, which is as Zoro suspected. Chopper mentions something about a hormone spike but nothing much else. Chopper does his best to assure everyone that the ship’s resident swordsman isn’t about to drop down dead from a heart attack any time soon, though he does mention that if Zoro should feel anything strange he should still report straight to him.

Just as Zoro is about to leave Chopper’s medical office he remembers the note scrawled on the leaf with the incomprehensible medical mumbo jumbo on it. He’s entirely happy to just leave now as Chopper has taken more blood from him for tests than Zoro is strictly comfortable with but his curiosity is overpowering.

“Chopper, what does this mean?” He asks, handing the folded leaf to the tiny reindeer.

The doctor looks at him oddly but takes the leaf nonetheless and opens it. It takes him no time at all to read the two weird words on there and looks up at him with a curious frown.

“It says ‘placebo effect’. It’s a medical term, it means when someone is given something, usually a pill or a treatment of some kind and told that it will have a certain effect on them. The patient takes the remedy and feels the effect, but the pill itself is nothing more than sugar and has no medicinal value of its own. The power of the treatment comes from the patient’s belief in the effectiveness of the drug. It’s a very powerful effect. Why do you have this written down?” Chopper asks raising a furry eyebrow.

Zoro blinks in shock at the doctor. He realises what the oracle was getting at. She means to suggest that he felt the way he does for Sanji now all along but was just too stupid or in denial to realise it. She thinks that he’ll believe that she just told him that he wasn’t asexual any longer, gave him a fake flower and he decided not to be.

“It’s nothing Chopper. It’s just that stupid woman trying to play mind games with me, I’m not listening.” Zoro answers with a scowl. That magical bitch really is a sadist.

 

Sanji

About three months after they left that island that is referred to crew wide as “that fucking island” it happens. It doesn’t happen with music in the background or soft lighting, it doesn’t happen expectedly or after some big event.

Zoro is just in the kitchen with him drying up plates without protest, he does a lot without protest now. He’s a lot nicer to Sanji now that he’s had his brain changed, Sanji supposes that Zoro is a little too smitten with him to be mean for no good reason. Not that Zoro doesn’t still argue and fight with him of course, because he does, but only for fun.

Sanji’s plate clanks against the one that Zoro should have finished drying by now. But instead of drying the previous one or accepting Sanji’s current plate Zoro is staring blankly at the wall.

“Oi, I’m getting water running up my sleeve here.” He prompts, startling Zoro out of his thoughts.

“Sorry, I was just thinking.” Zoro shrugs and quickly swipes his current plate dry and accepts Sanji’s new one.

“I thought that was an unfamiliar expression on you.” Sanji teases.

“Fuck you.” Zoro snorts mildly.

“I was thinking that we would have been screwed if you had stayed in that other world.” Zoro explains.

Sanji only winces an teensy bit at that inside, the others are mostly able to mention his time spent ‘elsewhere’ without problems now. He’d still rather not talk about it though.

“I mean, aside from the obvious, we’d probably all have starved or died of food poisoning by now.” The swordsman continues.

“I mean, I know you like Nami and everything, but you didn’t have to live with her cooking before we met you.” The man says with a shudder.

“Since when are you a connoisseur? You and Luffy would eat fried rocks.” Sanji retorts feeling a little defensive about his poor Nami’s culinary honour and making a tiny mental note not to let her cook just in case Zoro is right.

“I would rather do that than eat her food again.” Zoro retorts.

For a few moments they go back to washing and drying respectively.

“You know, you should probably write down some of the stuff that you cook, just in case you get sick or something. That way we wouldn’t have to suffer Nami’s uneducated cooking. And hey, you could probably sell it or something- oi! Watch it!” Zoro yelps suddenly because Sanji has just lost his grip on the plate that was in his hands and splashed them both.

He stares wide eyed at Zoro. This is the Zoro that let a crazy magic woman mess around in his brain for his sake, who’s been patient and understanding for his sake. He looks at the man who is braver and stronger than almost anyone that Sanji knows and is loyal to a goddamned fault.

His heart hammers and he throws himself at Zoro crushing their mouths together. After a startled yelp from Zoro the other man’s mouth is moving in perfect harmony to his own. He pulls away happily and breathes a pleasant sigh of relief, he’s missed this more than he thought possible.

“Go out with me.” He breathes with a smile. Finally this feels right, it’s the perfect moment pressed up against Zoro here in his kitchen where it’s warm and smells of home.

“Go where with you? We’re in the middle of the Grand Line.” Zoro questions stupidly.

“Agh! You- you ruined it! The moment was so perfect and you ruined it, AGAIN.” He snaps thumping Zoro on the chest with his fist.

“At least you’re not bleeding this time.” He mutters under his breath.

Zoro looks at him in a bewildered and stupid way. Sanji should really find that annoying but it’s somehow… endearing.

“Just kiss me, you’re good at that much at least.” He sighs, wrapping his arms around Zoro’s neck.

“That much I can do.” Zoro answers with a quirked smile and a flash of sharp teeth. He leans in close and kisses Sanji happily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you're curious about the poem at the beginning and various details I suggest here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus-eaters#In_literature

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Chinese translation on "On Alien Shore"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/321942) by [renata](https://archiveofourown.org/users/renata/pseuds/renata)




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